Popular online shopping site AliExpress is opening a package distribution center in Israel located in Tel Aviv. The center, officially called Parcel Home, will act as a delivery point, with the company having at least 15,000 of these in its parent country of China.
The center is currently being established in Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Center shopping mall covering an area of 80 square meters, and is expected to open within two weeks, initially serving several hundred package recipients in the country.
The center will at first be operated by staff, but will later function automatically via an application and serve thousands of customers. Consumers who place an order on AliExpress will collect their packages in the center and scan a barcode with an app, allowing them to access and retrieve their package. No access will be given to packages that don’t belong to the barcode holder.
Representatives from Cainiao, AliExpress's logistics company, visited the country about two months ago, with three senior executives arriving to advance the initiative this week.
The reason behind the opening of the distribution point isn’t clear. It’s possible AliExpress, an e-commerce giant in Israel, fears losing its lead in the country to its major competitor Temu, while SHEIN is also taking a share of the market, albeit in fashion alone. Temu is a more formidable competitor.
AliExpress may also be planning to replace its subcontractors in Israel. The company works with all shipping companies present in the country, including Israel Post, and their service to consumers isn’t always up to the standards introduced in China.
The new center doesn’t currently aim to replace all package delivery services in Israel. AliExpress has hundreds of delivery points in the country, with Israel Post alone having over 400 delivery points.
The center will serve a large but limited number of customers, and it’s still unclear whether consumers purchasing on the company’s site will be able to choose it as a pickup point or if the site will select it for them based on their address. If the center operates well, the company intends to open additional delivery centers in the country.