Internet portal iafrica.com has formed a joint venture with PlanetPastel.com, an e-commerce portal and a division of JSE-listed Softline.
The joint venture leverages the benefits of the two online brands to produce a co-branded business-to-consumer online shopping mall called "Sidewalk" within iafrica.com.
"The agreement builds on our commitment to offer the PlanetPastel.com community the best chance of transacting online and offer them access to the broadest possible range of potential buyers through an alliance with iafrica.com, the single highest traffic portal destination in SA," says Mike Bryer, MD of Pastel.
"SME [small and medium enterprises] that maintain shopfronts on both PlanetPastel and iafrica.com will be exposed to a variety of options and alternative product offerings available," says Bryer.
"The e-business technology underlying the PlanetPastel and Sidewalk Malls enables merchants to integrate their online store with their BackOffice accounting package. The menu-driven setup makes it possible for a merchant to create an online store and get trading within a matter of hours for as little as R229 per month."
Tim Spira, strategic development director at iafrica.com, says: "The PlanetPastel joint venture allows us to once again expand our e-commerce offering to iafrica.com users, by providing a host of new products for sale on the site. We are also now in a position to expand our Web hosting service by offering customers a world-class e-commerce capability along with our traditional hosting and visibility packages."
Spira says iafrica.com has committed itself to expanding its e-commerce offering as the online spend in SA increases.
"PlanetPastel`s technology reduces entry barriers for the SME market by offering customers a stunning product at a low entry cost, making online trading a reality for smaller players."
Sidewalk went live yesterday on www.iafrica.com.
Share