Government launching new online stores for South African products

The first is a business-to-customer platform called Shop Proudly SA, and the other is a business-to-business portal called Market Access Platform (MAP).

Both stores will be launched on 1 July, but the Proudly SA shop is already live.

The department said the new shops will help boost support for Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) and locally manufactured goods and services.

This in turn will help boost job creation in the country, it said.

“These platforms are meant to provide a seamless and centralised portals that will make it easier for consumers and procurement officers to source locally manufactured products and services and to meet their localization targets,” DTIC minister Parks Tau said.

The e-commerce platforms should also enable local manufacturers to claw back some of the ground they have lost to cheaper imports, he said.

The department noted that over 1,700 locally made products will be housed in the platforms covering all sectors in South Africa. “There will be something for everyone,” said Tau.

According to CEO of Proudly SA, Eustace Mashimbye, the MAP platform is a response to cries from many large corporates operating in South Africa who have mentioned that they don’t have access to locally made products.

MAP aims to plug the gap between corporates and suppliers, he said.

“MAP is a database of reliable, local manufacturers and service providers from which businesses that have undertaken to increase their uptake of local products and services, can procure,” he said.

In essence, the database is a source of local content and quality vetted companies. Members of Proudly SA are automatically eligible to be enlisted on MAP as suppliers.

Procurement officials from corporates using MAP will be able to list their tender opportunities and be “matchmade” to listed suppliers in accordance with their own preferential procurement goals, Mashimbye said.

Issued on BusinessTech by Staff Writer | https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/829260/government-launching-new-online-stores-for-south-african-products/