An online shop website for Cape Town small businesses.
A hand-coded shop-front where your customers pick a product, choose collection or delivery and pay by card straight into your own bank — built for Cape Town bakeries, cafés, florists and small retail. From R12,000 once-off, half to start and half at launch, and live in about 7 days from the day I have your products and photos.
How much does an online shop website cost in Cape Town?
A Shop & Booking site starts at R12,000 once-off. You pay half to start and half when the shop goes live, and from launch the care plan runs at R450 a month, with your first month free.
R12,000 is a floor, not a price tag. The exact number depends on what you sell and how much of it — a dozen cakes is a smaller build than a shop with two hundred products and sizes — and you get the number in writing before anything starts. I never go below the floor, and there's no hosting bill on top of it. The full breakdown of every plan is on the pricing page.
What's included from R12,000:
- Full custom multi-section website, designed from scratch — never a template
- Your products with real prices, sizes and options, beautifully presented
- Online ordering wired to Shopify, built fully custom, or straight to your WhatsApp
- Card payments straight to your bank through Yoco or PayFast, in your name
- Collection or delivery at checkout, with dates limited to the days you can actually do
- SEO-ready, with Google Maps & social previews
- Domain in your name — you own it all
- Your own editor — change words & photos from your phone
- The care plan from launch: updates within the week, domain renewal paid, WhatsApp support
Do I need Shopify?
No. Shops can run on Shopify or fully custom, and I'll tell you which fits on the first chat — it depends on how many products you have and how you want to run the shop day to day.
Shopify earns its place when you have a long product list with sizes and options, stock you need to keep track of, or you want to run the shop from the Shopify app on your phone. I design the site around it so it looks like yours, not a theme, and Shopify bills you its own plan directly. A shorter range — a dozen cakes, a seasonal flower list, a small menu — is often better as a fully custom shop: hand-coded in plain HTML, nothing to break, no monthly platform fee, with card payments or orders straight to your WhatsApp.
The shop I built for Café Chiffon, a Green Point dessert café, was built on Shopify, with Yoco for card payments and a collection-date picker built into the product page — no extra app, no extra monthly fee. It goes live when the café is ready.
- Shopify fits when: lots of products, sizes and options, stock to track, or you want the Shopify app on your phone
- Custom fits when: a shorter range, a menu or seasonal list, and you'd rather have no platform subscription at all
- Either way: designed from scratch, card payments to your own bank, your own editor, domain in your name
Where does the money go?
Straight to your bank. Card payments run through your own payment provider — Yoco or PayFast — opened in your name, so the money never passes through me and I never touch the banking side.
The provider pays out to your own bank account and takes its own small fee per transaction, which you see in your own dashboard, not mine. I set it up, run a test order, and we take one real order before launch so you've seen the money land. On a custom shop without card payments, the order arrives on your WhatsApp and you take payment the way you do now.
- Your Yoco or PayFast account, in your name, with your login
- Payouts to your own bank account — I'm not in the middle of your money
- Set up and tested before launch: test mode first, then one real order
- If you're on Shopify, Shopify bills its plan to you directly as well
Can I add products myself?
Yes. On Shopify you add products, change prices and mark things sold out from the Shopify app on your phone — it's your store and your login. On a custom shop, every site comes with a simple editor so you change your own words, prices and photos.
The editor is an email invite, no account to set up: a plain form with just your words and photos, so the layout stays put. Change a price, tap Save, live in about a minute — see it here. And if you'd rather just WhatsApp me the change, the care plan covers your updates — new products, prices, photos, specials and seasonal ranges — done within the week, up to about an hour of work a month. Bigger jobs, like a new page, are quoted upfront.
- Shopify: products, prices, stock and sold-out from the app on your phone
- Custom: your own editor for words, prices and photos, no account to set up
- Care plan: new products, specials and seasonal updates done within the week
- Without the care plan: changes are R350 an hour, and the site stays yours either way
How long does it take?
About 7 days from the day I have your content. For a shop, that means your product list with prices and sizes, your photos and a few lines about the business — the build waits on that more than on me.
You see the design early and shape it with me, then we load the products, switch on payments, set collection and delivery, run a test order and go live on a day you choose. I aim to have it live in about a week to ten days once I have everything, and nothing goes live until you love it. I'm open about how I work: Claude Code builds alongside me, which is why a hand-coded shop takes me days, not weeks.
- Day one: we chat on WhatsApp, you get the number in writing, half to start
- Early on: a first design to react to, with your photos and words in it
- Then: products loaded, Yoco or PayFast connected, collection and delivery set
- Launch: a test order, then live — care plan from launch, first month free
Who is this for?
Owner-run businesses in Cape Town that sell something people can order ahead: if your customers already order over WhatsApp or Instagram, an online shop takes those orders while you're busy making the thing.
Bakeries & cake makers
Cakes and boxes with sizes and flavours, a notice period that stops same-day panic, and a collection date your customers pick themselves.
Cafés & dessert shops
Your menu with real prices and add-to-cart, pre-orders for collection, and card payments taken while you're on the floor.
Florists
Bouquets by size and occasion, delivery days you set, and orders landing while you're making them up.
Small retail
A proper shop-front for what's on your shelves: products with options, stock you keep track of, card payments, collection or delivery.
If your customers book rather than buy, you want a booking website. If a clean site that gets you found is enough for now, start with web design in Cape Town from R6,500.
How does it work?
Chat on WhatsApp, see the shop-front early, load products and payments, run a test order, and go live within about 7 days of me having your products and photos.
- 01
Chat on WhatsApp
Tell me what you sell, how orders come in now and what's not working. I tell you exactly what I'd build — Shopify or custom — and what it costs, in writing. Half to start.
- 02
You see the design early
The shop-front first, with your photos and words in it. You tell me what to tweak and nothing goes live until you love it.
- 03
Products, payments, test order
We load your products with prices and sizes, connect Yoco or PayFast in your name, set your collection and delivery options, and run a test order end to end.
- 04
Live in days, looked after from launch
I publish it on your day and look after it every month from launch — your first month is free. Your domain is in your name and the site is yours, with or without me.
Looking for something else?
Web design in Cape Town
A clean, custom Starter site from R6,500 that gets you found and gets people in touch — the right first website, or a proper redo of a tired one. Read more →
Booking website
Appointments, tables and stays booked day and night — wired into the booking tool you already use, or straight to your WhatsApp. Read more →
Custom systems
The admin behind your business, built to fit it: intake forms, bookings, a customer list, automations and a dashboard, from R30,000. Read more →
Every plan, side by side, on the pricing page · see the work · about me
Online shop questions
Do I own the shop, or do you?
I already take orders on WhatsApp and Instagram — why do I need an online shop?
What does it cost to keep an online shop running?
What if I get too busy or sell out of something?
What do you need from me to start?
Ready to take orders online?
Tell me what you sell and how orders come in now. I tell you exactly what I'd build — Shopify or custom — what it costs, and show you the design early so you shape it with me. If it's not for you, no hard feelings.
Prefer email? joshuavomberg21@gmail.com