Amazon chiefs set to meet with Israel merchants ahead of local e-commerce start

A senior delegation of Amazon officials will meet this week with the biggest Israeli importers of fashion and electronics to set out the terms according to which they will be able to sell their products on the Amazon site, Calcalist reported on Monday. It did not give a source for the report.

The delegation landed in Israel Sunday, and will hold meetings with the local players Monday and Tuesday. The focus of the meetings will be the fees paid to Amazon for offering the products on its site, the report said.

Last week it was reported that the US online retail giant is gearing up to start activities in Israel, and has approached local retailers to invite them to sell their products for the first time via a website that will specifically target Israelis.

In its approach to Israeli retailers, Amazon required they deliver their products to clients within five business days. At this point Amazon is not setting up a logistic center in Israel and the merchants selling via the Israeli site will be using their own warehouses, Calcalist reported.

Although the move would start Amazon’s e-commerce activities locally, the US tech giant began operating in Israel with the 2015 acquisition of Annapurna Labs for $350 million. The firm employs some 200 people in the development of chips to improve the efficiency of the servers that Amazon uses in its retail and cloud computing businesses, according to TheMarker business daily.

Israelis averaged two online orders per second during 2017, according to data from the Israel Postal Company, with the nationwide total coming to 61 million packages, 15 percent more than in 2016. Clothing and shoes, housewares, accessories, gadgets, vitamins and cosmetics topped the Israeli shopping list.

Amazon did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.