The online grocery market in Israel is emerging. However, compared to developed ecommerce markets, such as those in the UK, US and Europe, the Israeli ecommerce market is in the early stages of development.
The potential opportunities that ecommerce offers to grocery suppliers and retailers in Israel has been noted by several of the major players in the market. In the past 12 months alone, dozens of the biggest suppliers and retailers have begun to invest online and a handful of dedicated ecommerce job roles have been established to support this channel.
Now that momentum has started to gather, in the next 12 months the market is expected to grow at speed. Existing e-tail businesses will become more sophisticated, new online retail businesses will emerge, and suppliers will begin to focus on online retailing alongside existing bricks and mortar stores.
There will be unique obstacles to overcome as online retail grows in the Israeli market. Currently, most in-store grocery retailers are serviced by an established set of distributors. When major brands wish to work in the Israeli grocery market, they sell their goods through the distributor channel rather than to retailers directly. At this point in time, the few established e-tailers are also stocked by distributors, but as the market establishes suppliers may wish to sell to retailers directly, so that they can better control their brand representation online.
Although there are differences in the distribution channels, many of the challenges in the Israeli market will be similar to those already encountered by experienced ecommerce players in developed markets.
Retailing 2016, Israel
At the beginning of the month, David Beech, Global Sales Director at Brand View, presented at Retailing 2016 – Re-Route Computers in Israel.
The event was attended by decision-makers from major retailers and suppliers in the Israeli grocery market – with a handful of specific ecommerce managers from the early adopters.
David presented ‘Price Promise initiatives and how to win online’. David explained how retailers in the UK market have leveraged price promise initiatives to increase sales. He also revealed how Brand View works with suppliers and retailers to help them win in the constantly-evolving, competitive online marketplace.
The presentation covered the fundamentals of ecommerce success – Discoverability, Representation and Engagement – brands must monitor these factors to successfully manage their online product positioning, increase their digital presence and improve their overall ecommerce performance.
The conference highlighted that the early players in the fledgling ecommerce market in Israel are already facing the common challenges of online retail. When speaking to representatives from international brands at the conference, we were told that managing product representation with the few e-tailers currently in existence in the Israeli market is difficult. Currently, brand content is being displayed poorly with a lack of consistent product representation and little evidence that content management systems are in place. In one instance, a retailer recounted that a product image had been sent to the e-tailer for use on its website on a mobile phone!
As the market emerges and grows, there will be an immediate requirement for a tool which enables brands to effectively monitor and manage their product placement online.
For brands wishing to bring full product portfolios online, there will need to be systems in place which allow brands to easily check hundreds, and possibly thousands of SKUs across retailer sites.
Brand View Positioning allows suppliers globally to manage the accuracy and representation of their online product portfolio. Ensuring accurate product information and imagery is available to shoppers is a key success factor for winning online – if brands implement these systems and best practice from Day One, they will win online.