Last week, the Israeli companies Azrieli, Shufersal and Melzron announced the closure of 4 of their online e-stores, highlighting the impact of the attacks by the Yemeni Houthi group in the Red Sea on supply chains in Israel.
According to the website of the Israeli economic newspaper “Globes”, with the risks posed by the Houthis in the Red Sea, which are expected to lead to “serious” problems in supply and import chains, in addition to the economic difficulties caused by the war on the Gaza Strip, these companies chose to get rid of ” failed investments, and focus on its core business.
Despite the United States’ call last week to form an international coalition under the name “Guardian of Prosperity” and for countries to join with naval vessels to secure navigation in Bab al-Mandi; Shipping companies still have doubts about the effectiveness of the process.
Competition in the online store sector in Israel takes place between local sites; Such as: Walla Shops, KSB, Super Pharm, and international sites that ship to Israel; Such as: Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, and Shein, and each of these sites connects sellers and buyers, without owning the products managed by anyone.
Data from Shop Analytics, which monitors Israelis’ online purchases, shows that the Azrieli, Walla and Gro sites generate revenues of between NIS 90 million ($36.32 million) and NIS 100 million ($40.36 million) annually.
Economic contraction
In a related context, the Wall Street Journal quoted a leading Israeli research center predicting that the Israeli economy will contract by 2% in the last quarter of 2023, as a result of the transfer of hundreds of thousands of workers. Because of the war on Gaza or being called up as reserve soldiers.
The newspaper quoted the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, an independent research center in Israel, as saying that about 20% of the Israeli labor force had been absent from the market since the operation last October, up from 3% before it began.
The center said that the sharp increase in unemployment reflects the fact that about 900,000 people were called to fight, remained at home to care for children due to school closures, were evacuated from cities near the borders with Lebanon and Gaza, or were unable to work due to the severe damage to their industries.
Expectations for the growth of the Israeli economy next year have declined significantly. While the Bank of Israel expects the economy to grow by 2%, down from 6.5%, other analysts said that the economy may not grow by more than 0.5% only.
As of last Sunday, 191,666 people in Israel had submitted applications for unemployment benefits since the start of Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” on October 7th. While the military institution summoned about 360,000 reserve soldiers, which is the largest call-up since the 1973 war.
