Electronic sales practices in marketing of forest products

This research was carried out to examine the electronic sales method, which has been on the agenda since 2019 in the sale of wood-based forest products and has been widely used with the pandemic. Within the scope of the research, two different surveys were conducted, namely the employees of the institution and the customers. Of these, 323 people participated in the corporate employee survey and 120 people participated in the customer survey. In addition, detailed examinations were made on the documents in Denizli Regional Directorate of Forestry, which was selected as a sample area. According to the research findings, electronic sales, the first trials of which started with the reflections of technological developments on forestry, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic process, curfews, the inability to make face-to-face crowded organizations, etc. widespread for reasons such as: The rapid adaptation of the relevant employees of the General Directorate of Forestry to the method and the adoption of electronic sales were effective in the rapid spread of the method, which was initially preferred due to obligations. The main reasons for this are that electronic sales are seen as an easy, reliable, fast and fair method. The non-advantageous aspects of the method are stated as reducing the relations with the customer and increasing the prices. On the other hand, customers were undecided about whether electronic sales are advantageous (especially for the post-pandemic period). Because, although the method seems to be practical and facilitating the work, the prices were well above the expectations. This may also be due to the fact that the period when electronic sales started coinciding with an inflationary environment and extremely high market conditions. However, a significant portion of customers believe that the main reason for the price increase is electronic sales. In addition, they stated that the inability of small-scale enterprises to purchase products and the weakening of the relationship between the institution and the customer are the weaknesses of electronic sales.