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Introduction
The number of Turkish and Turkish-originated people in Germany is about 2.6 million, with a total spending power of about [euro]16 billion ([19] Kraus-Weysser and Ugurdemir-Brincks, 2002), which is considerable for a so-called "minority population". Since, the first wave of immigration 45 years ago, German Turks have developed their own way of living as a community and subculture. However, many companies still hesitate to invest in an ethnic marketing campaign. In many cases, the Turkish population in Germany is seen as a niche market rather than a core segment with the potential to have an immense impact on company success. This is mostly due to a lack of accurate data, as well as prejudices against the Turkish population, and may have contributed to the emergence of German Turks as the immigrant group with the strongest entrepreneurial tradition, especially in the retail and catering sector.
For native businesses, ethnic marketing campaigns may be challenging to pursue as a simple translation of German campaigns is not enough. Differences in culture, language and habits compared to the mainstream German population make the Turkish consumer in Germany difficult to appeal to and therefore need to be considered. Furthermore, the characteristics of the Turkish population in Germany are changing from one generation to the next, due to an ongoing process of acculturation and assimilation. A company, therefore, also needs to know which generation(s) of the Turkish population it wants to target and what the special characteristics of the different generations within the German-Turkish subculture are. Thus, this paper aims to identify special characteristics of the Turkish immigrants in Germany which should be taken into account by companies planning to pursue ethnic marketing and the pursuit of inter-ethnic integration in retailing and services, as aimed at this segment.
Turkish immigrants in Germany
The analysis of German-Turkish consumers cannot be limited to a review of "Turkish marketing" or "Turkish consumers". In addition to country of origin, the analysis of an ethnic minority as a target group also needs to include the group's current life circumstances. Furthermore, the immigration history needs to be considered to be able to draw a complete picture of the Turkish community in Germany and its idiosyncrasies ([19] Kraus-Weysser and Ugurdemir-Brincks, 2002).
In 1961 article 18 of the...