Amazon to conduct surveys in Hebrew, testimony to Israel’s market potential

Amazon will conduct a Hebrew-language survey in Israel to determine the size of Israel’s market. 

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Will Israel be the 12th country to which the international marketplace called Amazon deploys?

Following up on an Israeli customer survey it did several months ago, Amazon is conducting a new one among companies that would use its services to expand their sales, Globes reported Thursday. And in a first, it’s being done in the local language, to make it easier for its potential clients.

“The use of Hebrew in this case is unprecedented,” Nir Zigdon, founder and co-owner of eCommunity, which helps companies establish an online presence, told Globes.

His company provides consultation to Amazon, and he sees this development as a sign of the conglomerate’s interest in bringing their consumer business to Israel as never before.

“In my opinion, the questions indicate a clear trend – Amazon is trying to understand how many Israeli sellers now using Amazon will sell on Amazon Israel if it is founded,” he stated.

If so, Israel will join a club of 11 of the most economically powerful countries in the world, including the USA, China, India, Great Britain, Germany and Japan.

Amazon reportedly began preparing to begin sales activity in Israel months ago. Word has it that the company was considering building a huge warehouse in the center of the country so that its products could be delivered more quickly and cheaply than from overseas, which is the case at present.

One might think that with a mere 8.45 million people, Israel is too small of a marketplace to be of interest to the internet retail behemoth, which had $136 billion in sales in 2016.

However, Israel Postal Company data reveals that Israelis averaged two online orders per second during 2017 — and this doesn’t even include the thousands of packages delivered by private companies. In money terms, they spent an estimated NIS14 billion, according to Calcalist.

The online shopping trend in Israel is growing, as can be seen by the recent Amazon Prime Day campaign in July, when Globes reported that some 20,000 customers spent NIS 7-8 million in 36 hours, an 80% jump over 2017.