Ecommerce service

Your online store is costing you sales. Let's fix that.

Stop Losing Customers

Say no to slow loading times, broken mobile layouts, and amateur design. Get a premium, conversion-optimized WooCommerce store built specifically for South African businesses with strategic copywriting, guaranteed support, and zero technical headaches.

Does this Sound Familiar?

You built your website yourself. Or maybe you hired someone “affordable” thinking it was a good deal. At the time, it seemed like a good idea – save some money, get something online quickly.

But now? You’re embarrassed to send customers to it.

The design looks amateur.
Half the features don’t work.
It’s painfully slow on mobile.

And worst of all? You have no idea how to fix it.

Every day, potential customers land on your website… and leave within seconds. Not because your products are bad. Not because your prices are wrong. But because your website screams “unprofessional” before they even read a single word.

Current Website

Slow loading times (customers leave before it even loads)
Terrible on mobile (70% of your traffic can't even use it)
Amateur design (looks like a DIY project)
No/Poor support (when something breaks, you're on your own)
Poor SEO (Google doesn't even know you exist)
Unclear checkout (customers abandon their carts)
No automation (you're still too much manually)

Online Store we Build

Lightning fast (Best User Experience)
Perfect on mobile (flawless experience on any device)
Professional design (you'll be proud to share it)
Rapid support guarantee (we've got your back)
Google-ready SEO (start ranking over time = free traffic)
Optimized checkout (with Cart Abandonment Recovery)
Maximum automation (payments, shipping, follow up emails, etc)

Here's the truth:

Every day you keep that broken website live is another day you’re losing sales to competitors who invested in a professional online presence. Your products deserve better. Your customers deserve better. You deserve better.

The Solution

Online Store by Align Designs

Designed to take South African product-based businesses from broken website to professional, conversion-optimized store in just 3 weeks*.

Conversion Copywriting

We refine your Ideal Customer Profile and craft high-converting wording on your website that turns visitors into buyers. This isn’t just design – it’s psychology.

Premium Store

Custom-designed, mobile-optimized, lightning-fast WooCommerce store that you own completely. No more embarrassment - just pride.

Full Technical Setup

Payment gateways, courier integrations, abandoned cart recovery, SEO foundations - we handle everything so you don't have to touch a single line of code.

Mobile-First Design

70% of your customers shop on mobile. Your new store will be flawless on every device, every time.

Google Growth Foundation

Clean architecture and basic SEO setup so you can eventually start ranking and get free traffic from Google.

Never Ghosted Again Support

Response time within 24-business hours, guaranteed. Hosting, security, updates. If we don't reply in time, your next month is FREE.

Pricing Options

	Starter	Most Popular Growth	Pro
Price	R15,000once-off	R20,000once-off	R25,000once-off
Products	Up to 50 products	Up to 200 products	Up to 500 products
Custom WooCommerce design (mobile-first)	✓	✓	✓
Strategic conversion copywriting	✓	✓	✓
Payment gateway integration	✓	✓	✓
Courier integration setup	✓	✓	✓
Abandoned cart recovery	✓	✓	✓
On-page SEO foundations	✓	✓	✓
Google-ready site architecture	✓	✓	✓
3-week delivery guarantee (or R2,000 off)	✓	✓	✓
No Ghosting guarantee (24hr response or next month free)	✓	✓	✓
Love It guarantee (revisions until you're happy before launch)	✓	✓	✓
R500/month hosting, security & maintenance (ongoing)	✓	✓	✓
Minor edits included in monthly fee	✓	✓	✓

NOTE: Monthly fee of R500/month begins after launch and covers hosting, security, maintenance, and minor edits.
Not included: Annual Domain Name fee (est. R90/year) and optional paid SSL certificate (est. R250/year).

The Triple Guarantee

The 'No Ghosting' Guarantee

We guarantee a 24-hour (working hours) response time on all support requests. If we don't reply within 24 hours, your next month of support is completely FREE.

You'll never be left hanging.

The '3-Week Delivery' Guarantee

Your store goes live within 21 business days of receiving all required content from you - including product images, descriptions, logo, and copy. If we miss that deadline due to a delay on our side, you receive R2,000 off your investment. Delays caused by late content submission, unanswered feedback requests, or revision cycles reset the timeline accordingly.

We respect your time and your business.

The 'Love It' Guarantee

We include up to 3 rounds of revisions before launch. Each round covers all feedback submitted at once - not one change at a time. If after 3 rounds you are still not satisfied, we will discuss additional revision options. We go live only once you have given written sign-off but revision requests that fall outside the original agreed scope will be quoted separately.

Your satisfaction is our #1 priority.

Success Story

From Zero to +9000 Cutsomers in 4 years

bristlesandboxes.co.za

The "Before"
A stay-at-home wife and mother importing eco-friendly cleaning products, selling exclusively through Instagram DMs. She had one successful brand but was drowning in manual orders and couldn't scale.

The "After"
After implementing the Online Store by Align Designs, she has grown to sell a dozen brands, built an email list of thousands of active subscribers, and expanded into a cleaning service business. Her website now ranks in the top 3 on Google for her main product brands, often ahead of the brand's own website, driving consistent, free traffic and sales.

Bristles & Boxes Online Store Mockup (Mobile)

Google Rankings

A Note on Google Rankings - What We Can and Cannot Promise

Your ecommerce website is built to perform on Google. Technically optimised from the ground up, structured correctly for search engines that runs in the background from day one. We take this seriously, and our track record across industries shows that the approach works.

But Google rankings are not a switch you flip. They are the result of sustained effort, technical quality, and time; and they are shaped by factors no agency controls. How many competitors are already ranking for your keywords? How long those competitors have been investing in SEO. How frequently Google updates its algorithm and what those updates reward or penalise. We have no influence over any of those variables, and any agency that tells you otherwise is not being straight with you.

What we will promise is this: your website will be built to the highest technical SEO standard available to a small business in South Africa. We will apply proven strategies. If you are in a highly competitive niche like Insurance, Debt Review, Property, Solar, etc. we will set honest expectations from the outset and recommend adding Google Ads in the short term to generate leads while your organic presence builds.

The System is designed to compound. Every month that passes, the foundation gets stronger - more authority built, more signals sent to Google that your site deserves to rank. The goal was never a quick spike. The goal is a website that keeps generating leads and sales for years after you sign up. That is exactly what this system is built to deliver.

How it works

From Sign-up to Live System in 5 Steps

Step 1

Strategy call

We have a free 30-minute call to understand your business, your target clients, and your goals. This informs everything that follows.

Step 2

Deep ICP

We build your in-depth Ideal Client Profile, defining exactly who you're trying to reach and what they need to hear before they'll call you. This is the cornerstone of ALL your future marketing.

Step 3

Design and Build

Your custom website is designed on WordPress (& Woocommerce), with all pages written specifically for your business and ideal client.

Step 4

Review and Launch

You review the site, give feedback, we make any adjustments, and then we go live. While it takes time to get found in Google, your system starts working from day one.

Step 5

Monthly Maintenance

Each month we host, monitor and maintain the system on your behalf.

Frequently Asked Questions

For questions not answered below: info@aligndesigns.co.za

Can you migrate my existing products and content?

Absolutely! We'll migrate all your existing products, images, descriptions, and content to your new store. You won't lose anything - we'll just make it look and work better.

What happens to my current domain and hosting?

We can either use your existing domain (we'll handle the technical transfer) or help you get a new one. As for hosting, we provide premium hosting as part of the package, so you don't need to worry about your old hosting provider.

Will my old SEO rankings be affected?

We implement proper 301 redirects and maintain your URL structure to preserve your existing SEO. In most cases, clients see improved rankings after launch due to better site speed and mobile optimization.

How long will my old website be down during the transition?

Minimal downtime. We build your new store on a staging environment, get your approval, then switch it to the new live website. The actual "switch" means a downtime of about 1hr (max).

What if I've already paid for a year of hosting elsewhere?

Our service guarantees only remain active & valid while you host your website with us. So if you choose to work with us then you would need to cut your loses on that one and switch to our premium hosting (included in your R500/m package).

Can you fix specific issues with my current site, or is it a complete rebuild?

We only build brand new websites from scratch because trying to 'patch' a broken foundation often costs more in the long run and delivers worse results. With a fresh build, you get a solid foundation, modern code, and guaranteed performance.

What if I like some elements of my old site?

We'll incorporate any elements you want to keep - your logo, brand colors, specific design elements, or content. Think of it as keeping the good parts and upgrading everything else.

How much does an e-commerce website cost?

There are 2 main costs to consider when launching an Online Store with us.

1. Monthly Fee = R500/m

Web Hosting: The space upon which your website resides.
Maintenance: To prevent viruses and malware destroying your website. Read more here.
Minor Edits (Large edits will be quoted seperately)

2. Website Once-off Fee: From R15 000

The Online Store by Align Designs

Note: Fees not included in this...

Annual Domain Name Fee: Est. R90/year
Paid SSL Certificate: Est. R250/year

Do you offer hosting?

Yes for The Online Story by Align Designs we require that you host your website with us because that allows us to give you the best possible on-going service.

Ie: If you host your website with another company it makes it infinitely more difficult for us to give you the best possible service. We then simply unable to guarantee you a 24-hour support turnaround time because of the obstacles associated with dealing with a 3rd party company on your behalf.

Does that mean you must always stay with our hosting? No, you are welcome to leave (move to another host/service provider) at any point but then our service guarantees no longer apply.

Do you offer set/standard website Packages?

Yes - The Online Store by Align Designs is our flagship online store offer. Starting at R15000 for the entire website build for up to 50 products.

Should my website be maintained?

Yes - especially for an ecommerce website because you are dealing with transactions which makes security even more important.

Why?

The backend plugins (which make up your site's design and functionality) are constantly being updated by the developers of those plugins. We need to manually update those plugins on the website. An outdated plugin may cause problems. If you choose not to maintain your site then it becomes vulnerable to malware, virus attacks, design issues, etc.

What's included?

Maintenance is 1 hour per month and completed once per month.

Backup of your website (done before any updates are performed)
Updates of all your backend plugins, themes, etc.
Troubleshoot any issues/conflicts that may arise from the updating
Backup after updates are completed (so we have the latest copy of the site)

Also includes MINOR edits.

Price = R500/m

What other costs are involved?

Other costs to consider - separate from the costs mentioned above (Hosting, Domain, Web Design & Maintenance):

On-going SEO – helps your website get found higher on search engines
Logo Design or any other custom graphics (icons, images, etc.)
PPC like Google Ads or Facebook Ads
Social Media Marketing
On-going Autoresponder management (email list)

Other marketing services to build brand exposure and get more leads and sales.

How can I get a website for free or very cheap?

The best solution would be to build it yourself. You can use free tutorials on YouTube.

Just make sure to set the right expectations for yourself.

Building a website with no real experience will most likely get very poor results because there's a lot more that goes into building a successful online store.

If you choose to go this route then I'd suggest continuous learning and working on your website regularly over months to tweak and improve it. Good luck.

What do you use to build ecommerce websites?

We use WordPress and Woocommerce to build online stores - for 3 main reasons:

WordPress is the most widely used CMS (website platform) in the world.
Allows you to keep your monthly costs more affordable compared to Shopify.
Easy for you to manage inventory using the free woocommerce app - we help you set this up.

Do you build shopify stores?

If you want a 100% DIY solution then Shopify is perfect for you i.e. you do everything yourself from design to maintenance.

Why don't we offer Shopify website design & setup?

Truth is we could easily offer this service and make decent money BUT the major issue we have with Shopify is that YOU, the client, will be locked into the Shopify platform leaving you extremely limited.

What do we mean?

You'd be using Shopify's platform. So if they decide to change a policy that affects your business or up their pricing radically there's literally nothing you can do about it. And, if you want to move away from the platform you need to build a brand new website from scratch - costing you more downtime, money and headaches.

Our mission is to give small - medium sized businesses the best digital solutions long term. WordPress aligns with this mission.

Why is WordPress better for your business?

WordPress is open source. This means that you are not tied into any one hosting platform. You have total flexibility. If, for whatever reason, you want to move hosting companies you can. Best of all it's free to move and they do it for you in under 24 hours - with zero downtime.

Can you build an online store for my type of business?

We've built online stores for all types of product based businesses such as...

Physical shops needing an online store to expand their reach in South Africa.
Entrepreneurs who manufacture their own products in SA and need an online store to sell their products.
Entrepreneurs who import unique products into SA and need an online store to sell these products

Two types of ecommerce websites we don't build...

We don't build marketplace-type websites such as Amazon, Takealot, Ebay, Autotrader, etc.
We don't build dropshipping websites

Our passion will always be to help small – medium sized companies dominate on Google.

Can't I just add my products to a marketplace like Takealot?

Of course you can. The more exposure your product gets the better chance you have of selling it. Other marketplaces you could place your product:

Facebook marketplace
Takealot
Bid or Buy
Gumtree
Amazon SA

I'm sure you understand that since you don't own any of these platforms you...

Need to play by their rules (get canceled any time)
Get lost in a sea of other products and distractions
Look way less professional because you can't really display your brand effectively

That's where a website comes in...

You own your website - way more flexibility
You get to effectively represent your brand
People trust you more and take you more seriously as a business
If you choose SEO then your website gets found for months/years to come

How to add a payment processor to my website?

Easy peasy...

You can offer several payment options to your customers such as EFT or a Payment Gateway solution.

For EFT we would need the banking details you want the customers to use.

Steps to get a payment gateway solution setup:

You setup an account with a SA payment gateway (some options mentioned below).
Send us the logins for that account.
We connect the software to your website.
We test to make sure it works.
We make it live for you to start selling your products!

Notes:

This can only happen once the new webite is live.
It's really simple and quick to get this setup

Which payment gateway should you choose?

Our suggestion would be to look at 2 main factors:

Cost you pay per transaction? Check their website's "fees" section.
Do they charge you a monthly fee over and above the transaction fees? Check their website/chat to their support team.
Trust worthiness - are people familiar with the payment gateway. If they are not familiar with it they may hesitate to complete the transaction on your website.

My clients use the following:

In no particular order...

Yoco - see fee structure here
PayFast - see fee structure here
PayFlex - contact them for fee structure

How to add a courier service to my website?

Easy peasy...

You have two main options:

Option 1: We add a courier company's software into your website (most accurate).

Their software will automatically calculate the courier fee on checkout based on your customers delivery address.

NB: We recommend Fastway Couriers because their software is the only one in SA that integrates well with WordPress at this point in time i.e. the other options mess up the website's design or functionality.

Steps to get it setup:

You setup an account with Fastway
Send us the welcome email they send you
We connnect the Fastway software to your website
You discuss all nitty gritty detals with Fastway (package sizes etc)

Option 2: PUDO

Pudo works on a flat rate fee nationwide . You tell us what that fee is and we'll make sure it's added to Checkout page of your website..

Option 3: We manually add the areas and cost for each area (least accurate)

Woocommerce only allows us to select provinces - not specific cities and towns in SA.

We can select areas by postcodes but that would be entirely seperate project on it's own because there are 1000's of postcodes (this project would be seperate and not included in the price)

So this is what we can do for you...

We allocate 4 main delivery areas
- Local pickup (if you have location for collections)
- Local delivery (province)
- Other large provinces
- Other areas (not covered above)
You give us a price to alocate to the 3 areas above (local pickup would be no cost)

We recommend going with option 1 or 2 because it's more accurate and less work for everyone involved.

How do I manage my inventory/stock after my store goes live?

We help you connect and setup the free Woocommerce App.

This allows you/your team to completely manage your inventory from your phone. You'll be able to edit/add/delete all product related details.

Full control.

Can I edit my website content by myself?

Yes you can. We build websites using WordPress and offer basic video training if needed. This gives you the option to login and make minor adjustments by yourself (if you want to do this). E.g. Adding/deleting images in your Gallery or being in full control of your Blog posts.

However I would recommend using our team for minor edits as that is part of your R500/m maintenance fee.

Can you edit my website content for me?

Of course! That's why we stick around.

Minor Edits...

We offer minor edits included in the R500/m maintenance fee and includes basic/quick tasks like editing contact details, replacing AN image, changing the description of a product (you provide the wording), etc.

Larger Edits...

For larger edits you can send us a request detailing what you want added/changed etc and we'll quote you accordingly.

You would need an additional quote for the following type of edits:

New page/s to be added.
New product ranges/categories to be added.
New product to be added.
Re-design of page/s.
Re-design of large sections.
Revamped entire website.
Revamped Header area.
Revamped Footer area.

Will my new website be found in google?

Not immediately. It takes Google anywere from weeks to months to INDEX your website ie: to place your website into Google.

Once your site is indexed the website will be in Google but far down (nowhere near page 1 of Google). It takes time, further investment and SEO strategy to get to the top of Google.

NB: Building a website is one service. Having that website show high in Google is an entirely seperate service called Search Engine Optimization. Read more about SEO here.