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A one-page shortlist sellers can defend in a supplier review.
A one-page shortlist sellers can defend in a supplier review. It is written for South African seller teams who need something they can defend in a supplier review, not a generic ebook.
Use this template to compare South African suppliers on the points that usually matter in review meetings: stock reliability, dispatch method, returns handling, and marketplace fit. It works best when each row is backed by a source such as a rate card, policy sheet, or buyer email.
Bring a hard copy to supplier reviews and internal sign-off sessions. Load shedding, weak Wi-Fi, and dead laptop batteries still interrupt South African meetings, while a printed sheet keeps pricing, MOQs, and delivery terms in view.
Score the fields that change margin or customer experience first, including lead time, shipping origin, minimum order value, and return address. Add the review date and the staff owner on page one so buyers can see who last checked the numbers.
Support each supplier entry with notes that explain why they made the cut for Takealot, own-site, social commerce, or B2B fulfilment. If pricing says one thing and dispatch practice says another, record the conflict instead of smoothing it over.
If the range includes fragile items, regulated goods, or bulky parcels, ask via our contact form for a version that lines up with your category. You can also cross-check the template against our playbooks and stacks before sharing it internally.
A one-page shortlist sellers can defend in a supplier review. Date it. Name an owner. Otherwise it becomes a polite PDF nobody trusts.
Confirm every item that affects landed cost, dispatch timing, returns friction, or marketplace acceptance. Decorative fields can wait, but hard trading facts need evidence beside them.
Print the latest version and store it with the supplier pack. South African teams still run into power cuts, flat batteries, and dropped connections during review sessions, especially when several rate sheets are open.
Use it with a playbook and a stack only if the three documents tell the same operational story. A shortlist loses credibility fast when the warehouse note, fee assumption, and channel plan point in different directions.
Start with Playbooks, then compare Stacks, review Channels, and check Suppliers before using our contact form for edge cases.
Hand the draft to someone outside the buying conversation and ask them which supplier they would approve first. If they cannot tell why one Johannesburg stockist beats a Cape Town option, the scoring logic still needs work.
Use South African courier bands, bank charges, VAT treatment, and returns realities when filling the cost columns. Overseas template logic often misses collection fees, outlying area surcharges, and supplier cut-off rules that hit margin here.
Where a current supplier email differs from the saved template, update the template after confirming the live term. Internal teams should not be quoting from an old PDF while the account manager is working from newer conditions.
Categories with hazmat, chilled handling, or age-gated products need extra columns and checks. Ask through our contact form if your shortlist must cover those cases.
Ask for the pack or send any shortlist question through our contact form.
