E-commerce website design for South African businesses
Owl Media does e-commerce website design for South African businesses from R15,750. We build WooCommerce stores with PayFast payments, working from Centurion for clients across Pretoria, Midrand, Johannesburg and beyond since 2014. You deal directly with the people building your store, and most stores go live in 8–12 weeks.
Since 2014 · 4.5★ on Google · Direct access to the team · Ons praat ook Afrikaans
Who this is for
You sell products — from a shop, a warehouse, your garage — and you’re losing sales to competitors who sell online. Or you already have a store that’s slow, hard to manage, or charges fees that eat your margin. An online store is a till that never closes, but only if customers can find products, trust the checkout, and pay the way South Africans actually pay.
We build stores for first-time sellers and for established distributors with hundreds of products.
What’s included in every store we build
- WooCommerce on WordPress — you own the store outright, with no monthly platform fee taken off every sale.
- Product catalogue setup: categories, filters, search, variations (sizes, colours) and product pages designed to sell.
- South African payments: PayFast card payments, PayPal, or invoice with EFT. Your money goes to your account.
- Shipping and VAT settings configured for how you actually deliver: courier rates, collection, free-shipping thresholds.
- A checkout built for phones, because that’s where most South African shoppers are.
- Order and stock management training so your team can add products, process orders and run the store without us.
- Quote-request options for B2B sellers whose prices depend on the customer.
What e-commerce website design costs in South Africa
From R15,750 excl. VAT. The base package is a WordPress + WooCommerce store that includes:
- Loading of up to 30 basic products
- Up to 6 standard content pages (Home, FAQ, Contact, General Product Info, and so on)
- Fixed shipping cost set up
- Payment gateway integration — PayFast, PayPal, or invoice with EFT request
Bigger catalogues, shipping calculations, B2B pricing, quote-request checkouts and integrations are quoted on top at our hourly rate of R750. What moves the price: the size of your catalogue, who loads the products, and custom features. See the full breakdown on our pricing page.
Payment terms: 50% deposit, and the balance can be split monthly during the build — useful on a bigger store.
How it works
- You message us on WhatsApp or the form below.
- A 15-minute call about what you sell, to whom, and how you deliver.
- A fixed quote within 2 working days.
- We design and build, you approve — you’ll click through the store before any customer does.
- Launch and support. A typical store takes 8–12 weeks.
After launch, our Annual Website Support plan keeps the store updated, backed up and scanned — more important on a store than on any other kind of website.
Recent work and what clients say
We built the online store for ETS Distributors, a solar and renewable-energy distributor in Pretoria supplying South Africa and Namibia — a full product catalogue with quote-request checkout and export pricing for Namibian customers.
“The best customer service ever. Owl Media has been my client for many years and definitely delivers on what they promised. My expectations was always exceeded. I get good value for money and always enjoy working with Marlo.” — Fatima Johnson, Google review
Owl Media vs a freelancer vs a big agency
- A freelancer can build a store, but e-commerce doesn’t sleep. When the checkout breaks on a Saturday, one person’s availability is your whole support plan. Our small team (Marlo, Martin, Amorie) has been answering since 2014.
- A big agency will build you a beautiful store at a beautiful price, then hand you to a support desk. You’ll never again speak to the person who built it.
- Owl Media builds the store and can also run the Google Ads that fill it with buyers — one team responsible for the store and the traffic, which is the honest way to be judged on sales.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an e-commerce website cost in South Africa?
From R15,750 excluding VAT with Owl Media — that includes up to 30 products loaded, up to 6 content pages, fixed shipping and payment gateway integration. Bigger catalogues and custom features are quoted at R750 per hour. You get a fixed quote within 2 working days of our first call.
How long does an online store take to build?
8–12 weeks for most stores. Product content is usually the slowest part — photos, descriptions and prices for every item — so the earlier your catalogue is ready, the faster we go. We can also load products for you or train your team to do it.
WooCommerce or Shopify — which is better?
We build in WooCommerce because you own the store outright: no monthly platform fee, no percentage of sales, and full freedom to customise, which matters for B2B pricing and quote requests. Shopify is a good product, but you rent it forever. If Shopify genuinely fits your case better, we’ll tell you honestly on the first call.
Which payment methods can my store accept?
PayFast for cards and instant EFT — a South African provider that pays out to your bank account in Rands — plus PayPal for international buyers, or a simple invoice-and-EFT flow if that suits your customers better. We set up and test the payments before launch, including the payment confirmation emails.
Can I manage products and orders myself?
Yes — that’s the point of WooCommerce. We set up the store so your team can add products, change prices, process orders and update stock, and we train you before launch. If you’d rather we handle changes, we do them at R750 per hour, usually quickly.
What are the ongoing costs of a store?
Hosting and your domain (registered in your name), payment-provider transaction fees charged per sale, and optionally our Annual Website Support plan at R2,250 per year for updates, backups and security scans. There is no Owl Media fee per sale — the store is yours.
Can you move my existing store to WooCommerce?
Yes. We migrate products, customers and, where possible, order history from platforms like Shopify or older carts, and set up redirects so your Google rankings follow you.
We sell to other businesses, not the public. Can the store handle that?
Yes. B2B features like quote-request checkouts, customer-specific or export pricing and hidden prices for non-registered buyers are exactly what we built for ETS Distributors‘ solar catalogue.
Get a quote
WhatsApp us: Hi Owl Media, I’m interested in an online store — we reply within one working day.
Or use the form: Name, Email, Phone, Service, Message. We reply within one working day. No spam, ever.
Also see website design for non-store websites, or contact us — [email protected] · 083 776 5145 · Mon–Fri 08:00–16:00.