Samsyn: A B2B Marketplace Helping Businesses in the South African Manufacturing Industry to go Digital

In 2002, a report published under the South African Journal of Information and Communication stated that eCommerce in the manufacturing industry was mundane at best, with systemic changes needed. The report claimed that B2B eCommerce in South Africa was facing severe challenges ranging from technological limitations to logistic concerns. 

It was considered premature to categorize B2B eCommerce for manufacturers in South Africa as revolutionary. Fast forward to today, while the challenges like logistics, infrastructure, and financial inclusion have still remained; innovative ideas and digital platforms like Samsyn.co.za are bridging the gap in a thriving African market.

Introducing Samsyn

Samsyn – A B2B eCommerce marketplace for manufacturers (powered by Yo!Kart B2B) was born with an idea to help South African businesses connect, communicate, network, and grow digitally. Launched in July 2021, Samsyn.co.za is a startup company based in Pinetown, South Africa. The firm follows a concept – Growth Through Synergy which means a combined effort from interactions between two or more entities yields better results than the sum of two separate effects. The word SAMSYN stands for South Africa Manufacturing Synergy. 

The marketplace provides local suppliers and buyers a much-needed digital platform to interact and reach a wider audience to improve sales.

Realizing the Untapped Potential with Prabashnee Naidoo

Prabashnee Naidoo is the managing director and founder of Samsyn.co.za. Prior to starting a B2B trade marketplace, Naidoo had 14+ years of experience in Process Designing and implementation in the South African Manufacturing industry. She worked as a Quality Systems auditor in a manufacturing firm for 5 years and as a freelance industrial engineer for 9+ years. She understood the market better than most and realized the untapped potential in the industry that can only be capitalized on by working in synergy. 

Naidoo and her team wanted a B2B eCommerce marketplace for manufacturers that bridges the gap in global competitiveness for local businesses, especially SMEs to increase online visibility for their products/services. With Samsyn.co.za, manufacturers in South Africa can build a stronger digital presence and cater to the targeted audience.

ÔÇ£Our aim is to provide local businesses with a practical tool that can support the immediate streamlining of their sales and procurement processes that will serve to increase their competitiveness creating an opportunity for increased demand.ÔÇØ

Source: Prabashnee Naidoo on LinkedIn

At Samsyn, the team believes in the following set of values:

• Synergy: Interact, communicate, support, and grow together.
• Efficiency: Doing better, Faster, simpler
• Innovation: Think Big, Be bold, Be Creative, Be Inspired.
• Integrity: Honesty, Forthright, and Commitment
• Customer focus: Delight customers in every interaction.

From small-medium businesses to retail giants, businesses across all sectors can benefit from selling on Samsyn.co.za.

How Yo!Kart emerged as the top choice for Samsyn?

While considering readymade B2B eCommerce solutions, the client reviewed several other solutions including CS-Cart before choosing Yo!Kart. Since Yo!Kart B2B is designed to cater to manufacturers, retailers, and other businesses; it emerged as a perfect foil for the client to launch and scale Samsyn.co.za. And here is what she has to say about it:

ÔÇ£We considered CS-Cart. Deciding factors For Yo!Kart: the 1-year technical support and design of the Yo!Kart Go Quick package. In our opinion, the Yo!Kart Go Quick package is more user-friendly than the competitors’ options.ÔÇØ

Yo!Kart is widely considered as a top multivendor platform for B2B, B2C, P2P, and B2B2C marketplaces. The marketplace platform is a trusted choice among leaders and enterprises; powering online marketplaces in 70+ countries.

Yo!Kart B2B is a standalone B2B eCommerce software by Yo!Kart that includes all standard eCommerce features as well as B2B specific modules to start an online B2B marketplace. For instance, there is a powerful Request For Quote (RFQ) module that allows users (buyers and sellers) to interact and negotiate pricing. With the RFQ module, users can accept, reject, or place a counteroffer on the submitted quotation. Similarly, Yo!Kart B2B offers the ability to show/hide prices to users, set up minimum order quantity, apply bulk pricing discounts, and much more.

Regarding Overall Experience:

ÔÇ£The team has been very efficient in their support. Their expertise is outstanding. Yo!Kart Go Quick package has a lovely design, very user-friendly even if it did take some getting used to. I appreciate that I was able to make changes to suit my requirements while giving me the option to include all of the functions at a later stage. I am very happy with the marketing work that has been done by Yo!Kart team as well.ÔÇØ

Client Feedback:

Also, the client has shared an excellent rating for Yo!Kart with 4 out of 5 stars on G2. This is an added feather to our cap and to Yo!Kart, since we strive to fulfill our clientÔÇÖs expectations in every way possible. It is moments like these that we cherish the most.