Amazon Prime Day: Next year in Jerusalem?
Seattle-headquartered e-commerce giant to launch Hebrew-language local platform in coming weeks
It’s no surprise that Israeli consumers, no strangers to haggling for a good deal, will once again be among those seeking to take advantage of significant discounts on Amazon Prime Day.
The Seattle-headquartered e-commerce giant is expected to launch its Hebrew-language local platform in the coming weeks, but Israelis will need to ship products from abroad for one more year should they currently wish to take advantage of more than one million possible deals.
Prime Day will run from Monday at 10 a.m., for 48 hours for the first time. Global sales are expected to easily surpass last year’s estimated total of $4.19 billion.
Users eager for knock-down prices can join Amazon Prime immediately for a 30-day free trial, after which they will need to pay $12.99 per month – or $119 annually – should they wish to continue.
“Our vision is that Prime Day should be the absolute best time to be a member – when you can enjoy shopping, savings, entertainment and some of the best deals Prime members have ever seen,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO of global consumer.
While Israeli consumers seeking deals might be buoyed by the current appreciation of the shekel against the US dollar, those opting to purchase in shekels should be wary of being stung by Amazon’s hefty currency conversion commission rates, which often exceed those charged by local credit card providers.
In May, Amazon sparked excitement among domestic consumers when it contacted Israeli suppliers on its platform, inviting them to be among the first to sell locally through its Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) sales method. The company is expected to launch the platform in the coming weeks.
FBM is when sellers list their products on Amazon but ship the products to buyers themselves, rather than utilizing Amazon’s distribution service, commonly known as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). In 2018, 58% of Amazon’s gross merchandise sales were by independent third-party sellers.
The launch of FBM sales in other global locations has previously served as a precursor to the establishment of Amazon-operated warehouses.
The decision to commence local operations follows the retail giant’s brief experimentation last August and September, with free shipping of Amazon goods exceeding $75 to Israel.
Establishing FBM operations will constitute Amazon’s first direct retail operations in Israel, where the company has been active since 2015 when it acquired Annapurna Labs for $350m.
In October 2017, Amazon announced the establishment of two research and development hubs in Haifa and Tel Aviv, with plans to recruit approximately 100 engineers. In January 2019, Israeli cloud computing start-up CloudEndure was acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for an estimated $200m.-$250m.