Online retail giant AliExpress, owned by China’s Alibaba Group, has been operated a pilot project in Israel in recent weeks by leasing warehouses at Airport City near Ben Gurion airport and storing products for direct delivery in Israel. The idea is to allow customers to order products online that are already stored in Israel and thus speed up delivery waiting times while cutting costs. AliExpress is currently planning to enlarge the range of products stored in Israel and expand activities.
AliBuy website manager Yaniv Porat told “Globes,” “It is already happening today. There has been a pilot project in recent weeks, and it is happening on a very small scale. Israel is an important market for them and they have been examining this for over two years.”
Porat does not represent AliExpress but has been marketing their products for the past eight years. Porat has a product sharing group from all platforms, which includes 150,000 people in the group. He advertises products, coupons, consumer surveys and the like, the consumers buy via his site and he receives fees from AliExpress.
Porat says, “I am not an employees of AliExpress. I work with them and receive information from them. I know that they have made this move in many countries like France, Russia, the US and more. They understand that this is the direction of e-commerce and people are not interested in waiting one month for a delivery or interested in waiting because there is a lockdown in China. So they decided that they will have a base in every country, and according to them this will also lower the costs.”
Porat adds that over the past two years AliExpress has been consulting with him about regulations, what is happening in Israel, and whether it is worthwhile. “I am not their consultant but I am trusted to share my knowledge with them on the subject.”
According to Porat, AliExpress has already opened warehouses in Israel, the activity is still on a very low flame, but slowly it will gain momentum. “Products will start to be added soon, they are contacting sellers and convincing them to transfer equipment to Israel,” he explains. “I know that a big sale is expected at the end of the month, and they will present additional products that can be purchased from Israel directly.”
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on August 11 2022.
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