Ecommerce Website Design in South Africa
WooCommerce stores for established South African businesses, with PayFast, delivery and stock control built in. We design and build them from R25,000 incl. VAT, then host them and look after them.
- Since 2001
25 years - 20+ years
with the same clients - 2025
most recent rebuild for two of them
WooCommerce, built for South African payments and delivery
Good ecommerce website design in South Africa goes further than a good-looking shop. The store has to take payment, charge the right delivery fee and keep count of what is left, on every order, whether or not you are watching.
We build stores on WooCommerce, inside a WordPress website we design for your business, so your shop and your pages live in one site. A store is part of our Professional package, from R25,000 incl. VAT, and it includes:
Designed around your products
A custom design on WordPress and the Blocksy theme, built for your catalogue and your brand rather than an off-the-shelf template, with up to 20 pages.
Your first 50 products, loaded
We load up to 50 products from the details and photographs you supply. Add more yourself at any time, or we quote to load them before we start.
PayFast and delivery, set up
PayFast on your checkout, and one delivery method, such as a flat rate, free delivery above an order value, or collection. More on both below.
Moved from your current site
Moving your existing site across is included. How a store move works is further down.
Checked before launch
We build the store on a staging copy for you to review, with three rounds of revisions before it goes live.
Ready for Google, fast and secure
Rank Math, the SEO plugin, set up for search titles and descriptions; Google Analytics 4 and Search Console connected; your Google Business Profile set up, where your business qualifies; LiteSpeed caching and Wordfence security configured before launch. Ongoing SEO is a separate service.
Ecommerce SEO: getting product and category pages found
Building an online store in South Africa: platform, payments, delivery and cost
PayFast, delivery rules and stock
Three things decide whether an order is paid for, delivered and filled. Here is how each works in a WooCommerce store.
PayFast
PayFast is the payment gateway included with every Professional store. As at 28 September 2026, PayFast’s WooCommerce page says a WooCommerce store connected to it gets access to over 10 payment methods, and its list of payment methods includes card payments and Instant EFT.
PayFast for store owners: fees, payouts and setting it up
Taking payments online: PayFast and the alternatives
Delivery rules
As at 28 September 2026, WooCommerce’s guide to shipping zones says a zone can be as narrow as a list of postal codes or as wide as a country or a continent, and that customers see only the methods for their address. Its three built-in methods are a flat rate, free shipping and local pickup; other methods are likely to come from a third-party extension or custom code.
A rule can be simple. Smallies World, a store we look after, charges R149 for delivery on orders under R2,000 and delivers free nationwide on orders over R2,000, according to its shipping page as at 28 September 2026.
Stock
As at 28 September 2026, WooCommerce’s inventory settings let a store keep a count for each product and subtract items as sales are made, email you when stock runs low or runs out, and hide sold-out products from the shop.
If your stock is kept in other software, the store can be linked to it; that is integration work, quoted after a free first discovery, and not part of Professional.
Case study: a live store we built and still run
Thrive Raw Food For Dogs sells raw dog food online. As at 28 September 2026, its delivery policy says the raw meals ship frozen in insulated packaging with gel-ice packs, that delivery fees are calculated at checkout from weight, volume and destination, and that same-day delivery is available in Gauteng.
We built the store in 2025, and it is still an active engagement: we host and maintain it, look after its analytics, SEO and Google Ads, update its products and images, and keep developing it. We set up MRPeasy for Thrive too: as at 28 September 2026, MRPeasy’s home page calls it MRP software for small manufacturers. We also helped Frozen Food Company set up its delivery plugin.
Client since 2025
Thrive Raw Food For Dogs
Built in 2025, and still looked after by us.
Client since 2003
GiftBucks
We built giftbucks.co.za and giftcardsandvouchers.co.za, which, as at 28 September 2026, sells retail gift vouchers online. We also rebuilt its card management system as a custom WordPress plugin.
We also look after Smallies World, a WooCommerce store and a client since 2024: hosting and maintenance, section rebuilds, help with WooCommerce such as bulk-purchase discounts and, in 2026, a custom plugin for its page animations.
Not every store sells to the public. For Oxygen Mobile we built an invite-only rewards platform, where products are bought with points earned, or with cash. Global Choices, also invite-only, runs one of the white-label platforms we built for GiftBucks. Stores like that sit close to our business systems work.
What a store costs
A store costs from R25,000 on our Professional package, depending on its size, typically ready in four weeks. One that needs custom plugins, or links to your accounting or ERP software, is Custom & Systems work, from R65,000. All prices are in South African rand (ZAR) and include VAT.
What drives the cost of a store in general is set out in what an online store costs in South Africa, and the running costs in what a WooCommerce store really costs to run.
Professional
from R25,000 incl. VAT
A WooCommerce store in a custom-designed site of up to 20 pages.
- Up to 50 products loaded
- PayFast and one shipping method
- Migration from your existing site
- Staging, three revision rounds and 60 days of support
Not included: custom plugin development, ERP or accounting integrations, multi-vendor or multi-currency selling, loading more than 50 products, ongoing SEO.
Custom & Systems
from R65,000 incl. VAT
For a store with rules of its own: custom plugins, integrations with the software you already run, and rewards platforms.
Quoted after a free first discovery. Detailed scoping is part of the build.
Hosting and care
from R450 /mo incl. VAT
Managed hosting on LiteSpeed, with daily off-site backups (restore included), uptime monitoring and up to 15 GB; more space or server power for a busy store is quoted separately. Care plans, R975 or R2,450 a month incl. VAT, include the hosting and add updates tested on staging first.
Professional includes 60 days of support after launch.
PayFast charges its own fee on each payment. As at 28 September 2026, PayFast’s fees page lists the transaction fee for each payment method. Work outside a package is quoted per task before we start.
Migrating an existing store
Moving your current store across is part of Professional: we bring your existing site over and load up to 50 products, and a larger catalogue is quoted before we start. Products can travel as a spreadsheet. As at 28 September 2026, WooCommerce’s product CSV importer is built in, for adding many products at once or moving product data between stores.
The addresses need the most care, because your customers and Google already know them. As at 28 September 2026, Google’s guide to moving a site says to map each old address to its new one, redirect the old addresses to the new ones, and expect rankings to fluctuate while Google catches up: for a medium-sized site, it can take a few weeks or more before the new addresses replace the old ones in its results.
Moving sites is familiar work for us: we have moved many clients’ sites to us from other providers.
Website rebuilds and migrations
Moving a website without losing traffic: a migration checklist
Relationships measured in decades
Three of the clients who have been with us for twenty years or more.
No public access.
Client since before 2005
Network Dynamics
When they became a client they traded as Flower Dynamics.
Logistics management system, now a custom WordPress plugin.
First built in the 2000s, upgraded in 2014, and replaced by a new system in 2026.
Client since 2005
Tin Soldier
Most recently rebuilt in April 2025.
Client since 2005
Something Fab
Formerly ABFAB Online. Most recently rebuilt in 2025.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an eCommerce website cost in South Africa?
With us, from R25,000 incl. VAT for a WooCommerce store on our Professional package: up to 20 pages, up to 50 products loaded, PayFast and one shipping method, typically ready in four weeks. A store that needs custom plugins, or links to accounting or ERP software, is Custom & Systems work, from R65,000 incl. VAT. After launch, hosting is R450 a month incl. VAT, and PayFast charges its own fee on each payment.
How much does it cost to design an eCommerce website?
With us, the design is part of the store’s price, not a separate fee: the price, from R25,000 incl. VAT, covers a custom design, the build, PayFast, one delivery method, up to 50 products loaded and three rounds of revisions. You supply the content: your product details, photographs and the words for your pages. If you would rather we wrote the page copy, it is R975 a page incl. VAT.
What is the best eCommerce website builder in South Africa?
For a business that wants to own its store and shape it around how it sells, we recommend WooCommerce, and it is what we build on. As at 28 September 2026, WooCommerce’s own site describes it as the open-source commerce platform for WordPress, free to download, that lets you choose any payments, any features and any host. We set it beside a hosted platform in WooCommerce vs Shopify for South African stores.
Do I need a WooCommerce developer?
Not to run the store: you can add products, change prices and manage orders yourself, and we hand over with a video for your team. You need a developer when the store must do something its settings and extensions can’t, such as a link to your stock software where no extension offers one. That is our work as a WooCommerce developer in South Africa: custom plugins, quoted after a free first discovery.
Who looks after the store once it is live?
We do, if you want us to. Professional includes 60 days of support after launch. WordPress hosting is R450 a month, with daily off-site backups (restore included) and uptime monitoring. A care plan, R975 or R2,450 a month, includes the hosting and adds updates tested on staging first and Wordfence monitoring. All incl. VAT. For care-plan clients, a store that is down gets a response within four business hours.
Do you build stores for businesses outside Johannesburg?
Yes. We work from Midrand, Johannesburg. Since 2001, Fyre has built and run sites and systems for South African businesses, and for clients internationally in the UK, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Our prices are the same wherever you are, quoted and billed in rand; a client outside South Africa carries the currency conversion and cross-border bank charges.
Related services
What our clients say
I have been working with Claude for over 20 years, and last night he properly pulled a rabbit out of a hat for me! Stunning wordpress site designed and built within two hours. Thank you!!
Google review
Claud from Fyre Interactive recently developed a website for me and did a truly outstanding job. When faced with a challenge he will persist and solve to full customer expectation and satisfaction. It was the best decision to select him as a partner for this project.
Google review
I have worked closed with Claude and the Fyre team and its one of the easiest web developers to work with. He is attentive and responsive to requests at all times whether its email or Whatsapp.
He also does not pad his costs and so the service is value for money. I highly recommend Claude for hosting, web development and other services.
Google review
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Tell us about the store you need
A few lines about what you sell and how you deliver it are enough to start. We’ll reply with questions, a sensible next step and, for a store that fits the Professional package, a fixed price.
Great service deliverables – Supportive, patient, reachable at all times and responsive
Samantha M. · Xscape4u · Google review