Following a successful three-month trial, sports retailer Asics has decided to partner with SessionCam, owned by Israeli AI startup Glassbox, to improve Asics customers' digital experience, the companies announced Tuesday.

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SessionCam, acquired by Glassbox in October 2020, provides digital solutions, encompassing conversion rate optimization and in-depth analytics of consumers' online behavior. Asics plans to integrate its technology into its retail sites.

Rick Hoving, Senior Site Operations Manager of Asics, said that "SessionCam's innovative technologies will ensure that Asics is able to offer personalized, uninterrupted and fulfilling journeys.

"SessionCam has already equipped our teams with an enhanced understanding of the traffic to our online sites, providing easily accessible data to enhance our digital operations. We are looking forward to deepening this relationship and further enhancing the service we provide to our customers," Hoving said.

Glassbox CEO Yaron Morgensten said "We are thrilled that a leading retailer such as Asics has decided to fully integrate SessionCam's digital services.The pandemic has prompted a wave of new consumers online while also intensifying online shoppers' demands for an immersive online experience. We are looking forward to ensuring Asics is fully equipped to rise to this challenge and deliver for their customers."

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The recently-ended 2020 saw Israelis home internet consumption jump 23% compared to 2019, according to a new report released by the Pelephone, Bezeq, and Yes communications providers.

The data from the report also showed a 36% rise in home Internet use during the Passover holiday; a 41% rise the week of Rosh Hashana (when Israel declared a second nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus); and a 40% spike during the week of Sukkot.

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On average, 2020 saw a 20% rise in internet use via smartphones, with Israelis consuming 2 more gigabytes worth of data each month than they did in 2019. The report said that until October 2020, each month of this past year saw Pelephone customers' smartphone internet usage break records.

In 2020, Israelis were also spending more time using their phones to hold actual conversations – 11% more voice calls took place in 2020 than in 2019. The increase in voice calls picked up early in 2020 when the COVID pandemic first hit Israel, and peaked during the High Holidays and the second lockdown, during which time Israelis spent 20% more time talking on the phone than they did at the same time in 2019.

At least some of the internet time was devoted to shopping, with many Israelis transitioning to online food orders instead of visiting supermarkets. Online orders with the country's major supermarket chains jumped by an average 20% throughout 2020, compared to 2019. When the first lockdown was declared in March 2020, online grocery shopping doubled. Even after businesses reopened, online grocery purchases were still up by 15% in 2020 compared to the previous year.

In addition to stocking the refrigerator through online orders, Israelis also upped their use of food delivery apps, which increased 92% in 2020 compared to 2019. In the last few weeks of August, use of food delivery apps grew by 230% compared to the previous year.

Appliance retailers also saw online customer traffic increase, with 20% more hits on their websites in 2020 than in 2019. The first major jump in this shopping sector came as Passover approached, bringing a 33% increase in customer traffic on appliance and electrical retailers' sites. Visits to these sites spiked again in November, which saw an increase of 50% in customer traffic.

While Israelis were busy shopping, they were buying less from international websites due to shipping delays caused by the COVID pandemic. Orders from international sites dropped by 11% in 2020. However, orders from international sellers picked up again in late November as Israelis took advantage of Black Friday deals.

Shopping wasn't the only thing Israelis were doing on line. Hungry for information about COVID, unemployment benefits, and related issues caused traffic on government ministry and healthcare websites to jump by 15% in comparison to 2019.

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Online dating took a hit in 2020, with usage of dating sites down 7% by May 2020 and down by 15% during the first two lockdowns. When the lockdown restrictions were eased, dating sites saw an uptick in use.

While dating was on hold, social media sites were busier than ever. Facebook saw a 15% increase in use, as did the Whatsapp messaging app. Twitter use jumped by 32% compared to 2020.

Interestingly, Israelis watched only 5% more television in 2020 than in 2019.

Dror Bahat, head of products, services, and digital marketing at Pelephone, Yes, and Bezeq International, said that "The year of COVID sent Israelis burrowing deep at home. We were stuck for various screens, we spent more time surfing, we talked more. Video chats and Zoom became a part of our daily routines.

"We discovered food delivery apps and spent a lot less time outside and on the roads. We all hope that in 2021 COVID will disappear from our lives forever, but it's already clear that its influence on our routines, the way in which we consume media and use the internet and various media outlets is here to stay," Bahat said.

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Two popular brands – women's lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works – will soon be available to Israeli shoppers.

Israel's Delta Galil has signed an agreement to open and manage Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body retail outlets, in conjunction with a European partner who is the brands' franchisee for a number of European nations. Delta's share of the partnership is 60%.

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The shops are slated to open sometime in the second half of 2021, and will also offer online purchasing.

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In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in April, eBay noted a 40 percent spike in the number of Israeli sellers compared to the previous month and a 46 percent increase in sales of products sold by Israelis, eBay told the Israeli business daily Globes.

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Already trending back to 2017, Israel was the world's second-largest online commerce buyer per capita, only behind China, according to eBay. Israelis bought products on eBay every two seconds on average and sold items every three seconds in 2017, according to the company.

"It is no secret that e-commerce is growing worldwide and that every business owner – big or small – understands that you cannot run a business without an online presence," says Mordechai Arba, the 29-year-old founder and CEO of Ecomhunt.

"Israelis are definitely important players in the e-commerce world, but mostly as solo sellers," says Arba. His website gets more than half a million visitors per month and hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have used his website to grow their own stores.

Arba notes that "most of the big high-tech companies focus on payment solutions, sales analytics, and so on, which have a connection to the e-commerce world but more as behind-the-scenes players."

He predicts that a growing number of Israeli e-commerce companies will become major players in an industry that continues to trend well.

Along those lines, while the coronavirus has raged, many offline businesses have closed up shop, while technology in general and e-commerce companies in particular, led by the worldwide giant Amazon, have flourished. Amazon's stock price has jumped 73 percent so far this year.

The Israeli freelance-services platform Fiverr has seen its share price jump by more than 200 percent since its IPO less than a year ago and raised at least $120 million in its secondary offering on the New York Stock Exchange, according to Globes.

Companies in high-tech and other sectors that can easily function with employees working remotely have been able to continue working at almost normal capacity during the crisis.

"The world was already moving online, and this pandemic simply fast-forwarded it," says Arba.

The company provides trending products and other training to drop-shippers so that they can have success with their stores. Drop-shipping is a popular online retail method where stores can sell products by having the seller send them directly to the buyer without requiring keeping inventory. In this model, the e-commerce outlet serves marketing and sales roles for the supplier, many of them based in China.

It is these online sellers who are flocking to Ecomhunt to find winning products to sell in their stores. The website is about to release a new online course for anyone who wants to start their own online store; it also has a blog and YouTube channel.

Arba, who moved to Israel from France as a child, worked as a web designer and developer before he started online stores using the drop-shipping and print-on-demand models. After some success, he started Ecomhunt, which eventually took off.

"After failed attempts, I finally figured out how to sell online and saw that there was a need to help people quickly figure out how to succeed," he says, insisting that "now is the best time to start selling online."

'More custom-made and personalized products'

David Popovich, an e-commerce specialist for North Africa and the Middle East for Colgate-Palmolive, started his e-commerce journey in 2016 after working as a marketing manager for 17 years in major companies such as SodaStream, Pelephone, and Club Med.

Popovich recognized a trend in 2016 towards e-commerce, and in particular, private brands – smaller products launched through platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce, and then use social media to create a community around them. The logistical methods revolve around drop-shipping or bulk orders from China to warehouses in the United States.

Popovich targeted his Wolvestuff.com brand at a specific audience interested in wolves and Native American culture; it grew fast, bringing it seven-figure sales in the first year. The Petah Tikva resident and father of three recently sold the company.

Like Arba, he sees e-commerce booming since the start of the coronavirus outbreak (and even before), which has led to many new players moving their businesses online.

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Popovich says that "we will see more and more consumers buying online. For example, those over 55 who typically buy less online have started to buy more since the pandemic, and there has been growth in other demographic categories as well."

While he still foretells opportunities in e-commerce for new companies, he thinks that the focus may move to more custom-made and personalized products that "cannot be found in local physical stores such as Walmart."

"All the processes occurring worldwide are also happening in Israel," he says. "Israelis love to buy online, and they want to be able to receive their orders quickly."

He adds that "e-commerce in Israel is still young, and there is much to do. If you have a great product and ship fast, you can target a specific audience with a product that will solve a problem or have an exciting feature."

Already during the pandemic, Popovich has created a new brand in two months that sells knitted dolls and figurines at bubot.co.il and is selling in the KSP computer store branches in Israel.

He doesn't think some great secret is involved in his success, declaring that "if I can do it, anyone can!"

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Sources said the American company prefers not to start its services until then, to lessen expenses associated with the media campaign.

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In an email sent to local Amazon retailers last week, the company advised them to have enough stock well before the Rosh Hashanah holiday, which starts the night of Sept. 29 and lasts until sundown on Oct. 1, according to the report.

The company also wants retailers in Israel to deliver products within five business days.

Last month, Amazon launched its Hebrew website for vendors.

Sites such as Amazon have become increasingly popular in Israel where the cost of living is high, but locals currently have to order from the company's international sites, for example in the United States, Britain, and Germany.

Amazon started reaching out to Israeli businesses in May, inviting them to join its local delivery program, which allows firms to use an Amazon.com seller account to fulfill orders to customers in Israel and abroad using a local inventory.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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According to the report, while Israeli retailers are hoping that the site will be up and running to allow shoppers to take advantage of Amazon's Prime Day, which falls in mid-July, a more realistic date for the Israeli site launch is in August, ahead of the start of the 2019-2020 school year and before the High Holidays.

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In May, Amazon was contacting Israeli suppliers on its platform to offer them to be among the first to sell locally to customers through its Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM) sales method.

"Dear friend, We are pleased to invite you to be part of a group of selected sellers and to participate in the Local Delivery program in Israel," wrote Amazon co-founder and CEO Jeff Bezos in the Hebrew-language invitation, according to The Jerusalem Post.

FBM means that sellers list their products on Amazon but ship them to buyers themselves, rather than via the online giant's distribution service.

FBM can be a stepping stone before the online giant establishes its own warehouses.

The move to begin local operations comes after Amazon briefly provided free shipping for goods exceeding $75 to Israel at the end of last summer.

In 2017, Amazon announced that it would set up a couple of research and development centers in Haifa and Tel Aviv.

Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.

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