Finally: Retail giant Amazon is making its first move in Israel

Retail giant Amazon is finally making its first move in Israel, and e-mails to Israeli sellers and invites them to start selling products through it. On the night between Monday and Tuesday, Israeli suppliers began to receive an official request from Amazon inviting them to start selling products through it. This marks the beginning of Amazon's official activity in Israel, but at this stage it is not exactly the full activity.
"Dear friend, We are pleased to invite you to be part of a group of selected vendors and to participate in the Local Delivery program in Israel. The program allows you to use your familiar Amazon.com account to sell and deliver direct orders to customers in Israel, using your inventory in Israel through Fulfillment by Merchant. "
This is not the opening of an Amazon logistics center, but the operation of the Local Delivery program, in which the seller is the one who holds the product inventory and the one who sends it to the Israeli purchasers. However, Amazon should dictate the maximum shipping time, which is expected to be up to 5 business days.
Amazon usually extends its expansion to other countries in stages, while in the first stage it opens the possibility of selling products locally, and then decides whether to open a logistics center and to run warehouses in which it will complete and complete the whole process of sales and shipping.
At this stage, it is not clear whether Amazon plans to launch a Hebrew site soon, or that it may be satisfied with the promotion of Israeli sellers in its search engine, but in the meantime it explicitly mentions the possibility of Buy-Box indicating that Israeli sellers will appear in the shipping options on the product pages.
 Amazon currently does not operate a Hebrew site, so if you try to type Amazon.com, you will automatically be sent to Amazon.com, which operates in English of course, and at least in the foreseeable future no logistic warehouses will be established in Israel.
A program similar to that currently being launched in Israel was activated in Turkey about three months before Amazon became active in the local language, with an Internet address with a Turkish suffix. In other words, it is estimated that the current step is the opening of Hebrew activity in Amazon within a period of two to three months, which is expected to significantly boost Israelis' use of the site.
The program that Amazon is currently embarking with allows Amazon.com sellers to sell to consumers in Israel without going through the US or Europe as it has been today, which naturally reduces logistical costs and shortens delivery times. Dictate the supply of packages, and demand that sellers in Israel offer a maximum delivery time of five days, with a shorter delivery period of two to three days.In the same way that Amazon collects from sellers abroad, sellers in Israel are also required to pay 15% commission for each transaction.
In countries where Amazon does not operate logistics warehouses, it does not deliver the goods directly to the end consumer, but only serves as a trading platform, so that each seller is required to take care of the shipment himself. Regarding operations in Israel, Amazon points out in its appeal to sellers that each seller can set shipping charges according to the shipping service provider he chooses, but makes it clear that "customers are more likely to buy products that offer free shipping."
Last year, the online retail giant made a number of significant steps that marked the preparation of its land for entry into the local market. Thus, about a year ago, in May 2018, Amazon began recruiting Hebrew translators for a position in its headquarters in Luxembourg, from which its main European operations are managed. Two months later, in July of last year, Amazon launched a free delivery of orders of over $ 85 to examine the Israeli response to purchases that include VAT, which was a huge success.
A month later, Amazon released a survey in Hebrew targeting Israeli sellers on pricing methods and sales channels, and two months later Amazon executives came to Israel for a series of meetings with local shipping companies. However, since October 2018, there has been a kind of industrial quiet, at least as far as Amazon's stated activity is concerned, with local industry sources saying that Amazon is examining the implications of tax effects on the domestic market.
There is no doubt that Google's entry into the local market is not a simple challenge for malls in general and for the fashion industry in particular. Those who can feel lucky are the small businesses with unique products related to ingenuity and start-ups. Bored sure will not be in the coming year in the retail market.