With an active online shopping population of over 18 million racking up sales of R37.1 billion in 2017, South Africa’s e-commerce sector is on a massive upward trajectory.
Proudly South African is looking to grow its members’ share of this burgeoning market and is set today to launch its own online shopping site. Unambiguously Proudly South African, the site is populated exclusively with locally made goods and products, differentiating itself significantly from other sites and making a buy local choice simple for consumers.
Together with RSAMade, Proudly South African has created an e-shopping site www.rsamade.co.za where anyone can make made in South Africa choices easily in the knowledge that every single item for sale on the site is made locally. Proudly South African vets and verifies local content and quality and that all the vendor companies adhere to labour and environmental legislation which is all part of the terms of Proudly South African membership.
Said Eustace Mashimbye, CEO of Proudly South African, “We had been looking for some time at establishing a commercial site for our members, and RSA Made’s existing platform and content were a great match making it logical to extend their offering exclusively to Proudly South African members. It is important now that we are in the age of the 4th industrial revolution to tap into digital shopping habits and to ensure that more locally grown, produced and manufactured goods are available to local consumers.
We know that China supplies US$15.5 billion of imports to this country and much of that is found on online shopping sites. Www.rsamade.co.za can claim to be the only truly local online shopping site for consumers. Of course, it is not restricted to SA only and we will be delighted if there is uptake from international shoppers!.”
RSA Made’s CEO Karamba Jabbie added, “We feel that we have found a perfect partner in Proudly South African – our platform already concentrated exclusively on items made here in South Africa, and so it made complete sense to us to join together with the country’s buy local advocacy campaign, whose member companies are already quality controlled for sale on the platform.
We are so excited to see the online shopping site being populated slowly but surely.
We will take our time to ensure that all products are beautifully represented to provide consumers with a truly Proudly South African online shopping experience but users can subscribe to the site to receive regular notifications as new products and special offers come online, so we are encouraging everyone to register on the site.”
The launch of the site also holds great importance for the growth and development of the country’s digital economy and push towards increased re-industrialisation and consumption of locally made products. Minister in the dti, Dr Rob Davies commented on the launch of the site and said, “Reindustrialization is a priority to growing job opportunities in the country and the accessibility of locally made products especially in this era where more and more consumers are buying their products on online platforms, this is a much needed solution.
We also have to recognize changing employment patterns and the potential this sector has in creating new employment sources. Technology has the capacity to generate many new skilled jobs, and we must look at the commercialisation of innovations such as online shopping platforms. E-commerce represents a great opportunity and I am delighted that Proudly South African has seized the day and has created a site where increased localisation is the only goal.”
The site works on the same basis as any other online shopping store, with a simple product selection and check out sequence, with door to door delivery within 48 hours within our borders. In addition, the site has a fully functioning ticketing system and local events are encouraged to use this platform for their online ticket sales.
www.rsamade.co.za is the first site of its kind in South Africa, a platform created not just to assist small, medium and even large local businesses to sell more, but it was also built using only South African suppliers and service providers.
For a Proudly South African online shopping experience visit www.rsamade.co.za