At least 250 start-ups operate in online purchases

At least 250 Israeli start-ups operate in the Retailtech field - online purchases. Most of their activities revolve around the supply chain, logistics, sales floor and electronic commerce. 100 of those companies  raised $ 880 million. 19 companies raised 20 million or more, 20 raised between $ 5-20 million and the other 61 raised between $ 100,000 and $ 5 million.

The areas in which Israeli retail companies operate are logistics, software that optimizes shipments, robotics and others that track and transport merchandise along the distribution chain. The sales floor - self-purchase without a person, mapping of commercial areas, technologies that help in-store smart buying, payments, digital signatures, inventory control and more. Among the other technologies and solutions: e-commerce - enhance e-commerce capabilities, loyalty programs and personalization, new user experience such as AR / VR and 3D and more.

The technological innovation in Israel has not disappeared from the ears of the giants of e-commerce flowing to Israel. Amazon, Alibaba, eBay and the Sears network are opening up one by one development centers. Other companies operating new arenas are also active in Israel: Visa Tyco, SAP and NCR. The start-up companies apply Israel's core expertise in the field of high technology and apply it in the retail field: computer vision, artificial intelligence, analytical analysis or robotics.

"Israel is quickly becoming a leading innovation base in the retail world," says Ilan Leiferman, managing director of The Shelf, Israel's retail innovation incubator. "Managers from Walmart Tesco, Carrefour, H & M, Best Buy and others have visited Israel in the past two years and are collaborating with Israeli start-ups, and we expect this trend to continue and retailers worldwide will establish innovative activities in Israel in the form of partnerships, investments or acquisitions. The way to open R & D centers, as well as strategic acquisitions. "

Success and cooperation, of course, have a price tag. Some notable exits have been recorded in recent years: Retalix was sold to NCR for $ 650 million, R2Net to Signet's Jewelers for $ 325 million, Cimagine to Snap for $ 40 million and Visualead to Alibaba for an amount not reported .

"Working closely with TESCO and PepsiCo together with our other partners at JVP Play, demonstrates the growing efforts of these entities as well as other giants in the retail industry to adopt innovation to keep up with the growing pace of industry," said Jonathan Machado Partner On JVP Play. "The pressure from Amazon on the one hand and the new brands and platforms on the other makes it difficult for key players in the industry to maintain continuous growth as well as their margins, but the loyal customer base, geographical deployment, access to endless information and their logistics, Making it a hot attraction in the Israeli start-up market The local market, which is characterized by a B2B approach that does not challenge companies such as TESCO and PEPSIO but is optimized to enable them to grow and innovate, has become a natural source of innovation and success for the entire retail industry "

The retail market represents more than 30% of the world's GDP, and market earnings are expected to grow to $ 28 billion by 2019. A review of 250 global retail companies raises their aggregate value to $ 4.3 trillion, reflecting a company value of $ 17.2 trillion As a result, the cooperation between the two markets has enormous potential for Israeli companies that present solutions.

"In an era of technological revolutions that dominate many industries, the industries feel pressure and a strong need to look for innovation, to think about new business models, to create an exceptional customer experience and to develop a strategy that is expressed in multi-channel communication with the customer," says Amit Harel, Tech Terminal (ITT), the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte. "As you can see in other industries, the innovation of the startup community plays a significant role in creating solutions for the giants of commerce and retails.The Israeli entrepreneurs are looking for opportunities to contribute to their unique technological expertise by creating significant value for the changing needs of the major players in retail, As part of the global scouting services we provide to these players, we see that these are looking for new ways to create communications and collaborations with Israeli startups and innovation bodies and therefore we expect RetailTech to become one of the major and important growth engines In the community of start-up companies in Israel. "

"I think that in light of the traditional characteristics of some of the players in the field, a start-up who wants to succeed must keep his mindset and messages in line with those of the industry, Managed to deliver to the market the value in the solution it offers. "

How do people relate to consumption?

People today define themselves less by how much property they have and more by the quality of property they possess and the experiences around it. New trends such as transforming the world into a retailer, a cooperative economy, and other factors have made retail a much more complex and difficult concept to define. Shopping on demand combined demand relevance, will determine the next steps of the industry. Retailers will have to understand the new mindset of the consumer. Exponential life, exponential technologies, change the way we live and buy.