Ecommerce FAQ's

How long does it take to set up my eCommerce storefront?

We’ll set up your DIY Solution the same day you sign up for an account! One of your key tasks is to load your products. General product entry takes approximately five minutes per product, depending on the amount of descriptive information you have. In addition, you’ll need maybe an hour or so to familiarise yourself with the shopping cart program. The Professional Solutions, where ShopDirect does the major quality work for you and can take anywhere between three and six weeks depending on how fast you as the customer conclude the ShopDirect workshop, sign-off designs and prepare your product data for import..

Do I need a merchant account to sell online?

Yes you do, should you want to receive online credit card payments from your customers online. ShopDirect is fully integrated with Nedbank, ABSA, Standard Bank and First National. With over 60% of all online purchases done so with Credit Cards, an Internet merchant facility allows for transfer of those funds into an Internet enabled account with your banking institution. More about setting up an Internet Merchant Account?

Is the ShopDirect system safe and secure for online transactions?

Yes, you have the full protection of the ShopDirect SSL certificate which provides 128 bit Secure Socket Layer protection as part of your account. You may also purchase your own SSL security certificate for *$150 per year. More about ShopDirect’s Security Features? *Prices are subject to change on request.

How much of my storefront can I maintain myself?

With the ShopDirect eCommerce solution you will be able 100% independently maintain every aspect of your online business from managing orders, adding new products and categories, changing prices, running reports, launching affiliate campaigns and much, much more. You will also have the ability to control your eCommerce business from any computer connected to the Internet.

Will someone train me how to use the administrative system?

After signing up for a new storefront with ShopDirect, you will receive an email detailing how to begin building your online storefront. A friendly ShopDirect training consultant will also personally phone you to take you through a fun and informative 30-40 minute training session after which you’ll have all the knowledge to do everything yourself. Remember, also, that the expertise and knowledge accrued by the ShopDirect professional staff is there for the asking for as long as you own your storefront!

Who can I use as a delivery company?

We will be able to provide you with a list of delivery services who have a long standing relationship with other ShopDirect customers.

What if something isn’t working, who can I call?

Call 021 789 0201 Ext 202 to immediately reach our customer support centre on call during office hours (8am – 5pm, Monday to Friday) to assist with any problems or concerns you may experience. Technical support is provided to all ShopDirect customers free of charge. So if there is anything that you feel is not running at 100% efficiency, you call us, we fix it or answer your questions immediately - at no charge to you.

Why is ShopDirect different than other eCommerce software I’ve seen?

ShopDirect provides the only comprehensive end to end eCommerce solution in South Africa. ShopDirect not only provides a tried and tested eCommerce platform for you to 100% independent run your eCommerce storefront, but also the technical support and maintenance to ensure that you never have to worry about the technology. What’s more, ShopDirect provides a number of professional solutions and eCommerce services geared to building truly customer centric storefront aimed at selling with power to your ideal target market. More reasons why you should chose ShopDirect as your eCommerce provider?

Who hosts my storefront?

ShopDirect host and support your storefront on our servers located at the Internet Solutions (IS) server farms in both Johannesburg and Cape Town providing for one of the most secure, reliable and powerful hosting environments in Southern Africa. You’re customers will experience accessibility often 5-10 the speed of any other provider. International customers are hosted by ShopDirect in Seattle, Washington (USA).

How will Internet shoppers find my store?

You must have plans to market your storefront in order to generate online sales. Search engine submittal, pay-per-click search engines, newsgroups and newsletters are all part of successfully marketing your products and offering online. The ShopDirect system has been fully optimised for Search Engine Registration so that when you add new products and content (or even change existing content), all the major search engines including Google, Yahoo and MSN, are automatically updated to re-index your pages quickly. What’s more, upon launching of your store, ShopDirect will activate datafeeds to South Africa's top four price comparison engines including Jump, Price Check, My Kinda Prices and Hotprice where ALL your products will be displayed on ALL four price comparison engines to hundreds of thousands of viewers a month. Enjoy one free month as a ShopDirect customer within these PPC (pay per click) environments with no obligation!

Does ShopDirect require me to sign a fixed term contract?

Absolutely not! At ShopDirect, we believe that as long as our products and services are of benefit to you and your online business, that’s good enough for us. You may discontinue at anytime by providing us with one calendar month’s cancellation notice via email. Always be wary of firms that require you to sign a fixed term contract and always read the fine print if you do!

Do I need to know Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) to create my store?

HTML knowledge is not required for you to effectively use your ShopDirect platform. By utilising your What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWEG) administration screens, you’ll be able to manipulate everything from font sizes and colours, to the insertion of tables, images and other media without knowing anything about HTML!

Do I need any other tools to get started?

You won’t need any extra software, plug-ins or downloads for your computer. All that is required for you to manage and run your own ShopDirect storefront from anywhere in the world is a computer with a browser and a connection to the Internet. The ShopDirect system is fully cross platform (Mac and PC) enabled and 100% cross browser compatible.

Is there a limit to the number of products I can sell?

Some of our customers only sell one product while some literally sell millions of different line items.

Do I have my own domain name?

Your storefront and all its content and data belong to you and will feature your products exclusively. You storefront will be hosted on your own domain and will not be an extension of the ShopDirect domain. As part of our service to you, ShopDirect will transfer an existing domain OR register an entirely new domain name for you on your behalf when you sign up for a storefront.

How am I notified of new orders?

The ShopDirect system sends a “new order” notification email to you should you require this service. From the email, you may log directly into your storefront and review all your orders in one area, filtering through them easily.

What is dropshipping and can I run a dropshipping business through ShopDirect?

You will make more sales using the ShopDirect system. The unique ShopDirect navigation layout reduces the number of clicks required by your customers to reach their desired product destinations. This is important because studies have shown if users can't find what they are looking for (in 12-15 seconds or 3 or less clicks)...they click to the next site in the search engine. Also, the ShopDirect system comes equipped with a 100% viewable, "real-time" sidebar-shopping cart. While most e-commerce softwares take customers to a separate page to view contents added to the cart, the ShopDirect system enables customers to add, edit and delete products (from the shopping cart) from every page within the store.

Can customers view the status of their orders?

Yes, ShopDirect allows your customers to log into their accounts to view the status of their orders while also accessing a number of other useful features such maintaining their wish lists and adding multiple delivery addresses.

Can I sell virtual (digital) products online like eBooks?

Definitely! You can sell eBooks, PDFs, MP3s, video files and application files (for software vendors) on the ShopDirect system easily and effectively. Once an order has been paid for, the system will automatically send the customer an email with a download link for the product in question. You can even calibrate from your administrative console how many times that product can be downloaded and for how long!