Last Updated: July 25, 2025
Your privacy is critically important to Shopciti. This Privacy Policy describes how Shopciti (“we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, processes, and protects the personal information you provide when you access and use the Shopciti website (the “Website”), including any content, functionality, and services offered on or through the Website.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring that your personal information is processed lawfully, transparently, and securely, in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”) and other applicable South African laws.
By accessing or using the Website, you agree to the collection and use of your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not use our Website.
1. Definitions
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, the following definitions apply:
- “Personal Information” (as defined by POPIA) means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including but not limited to:
- Contact details (e.g., name, surname, email address, physical address, telephone number, mobile number).
- Demographic information (e.g., age, gender, location).
- Financial information (e.g., payment details, credit card information).
- Order history and purchase details.
- Technical information (e.g., IP address, browser type, device information, website usage data collected via cookies).
- Any other information that could directly or indirectly identify you.
- “Process” or “Processing” (as defined by POPIA) means any operation or activity or any set of operations, whether or not by automatic means, concerning personal information, including the collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating or modification, retrieval, alteration, consultation, use, dissemination by means of transmission, distribution or making available in any other form, merging, linking, as well as blocking, degradation, erasure or destruction of information.
- “Responsible Party” refers to Shopciti, the entity that determines the purpose and means of processing personal information.
- “Data Subject” refers to you, the person to whom the personal information relates.
- “Website” refers to the Shopciti website.
2. Information We Collect
We collect various types of personal information from and about users of our Website, including:
2.1 Information You Provide to Us Directly:
- Account Registration: When you create an account, we collect your name, surname, email address, password, and contact number.
- Guest Purchases: When you make a purchase as a guest, we collect your name, surname, delivery address, contact number, email address, and payment details.
- Transactions: Details of transactions you carry out through our Website, including payment information.
- Communications: Records and copies of your correspondence with us (e.g., emails, customer service chats, phone calls).
- Surveys and Feedback: Information you provide when participating in surveys, promotions, or providing feedback.
- Enquiries: Information provided when you make inquiries about products, services, or support.
2.2 Information We Collect Automatically:
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, Browse actions, and patterns, including:
- Usage Details: Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.1
- Device Information: Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating s2ystem, browser type, and device identifiers.
- Cookies and Tracking Technologies: Information collected through cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies (see Section 6 for more details).
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the personal information we collect for various purposes, including:
- To Provide and Improve Our Services:
- To process your orders, complete transactions, and deliver products.
- To manage your account, including sending order confirmations and updates.
- To improve our Website, products, services, and your shopping experience.
- To develop new products and features.
- To Communicate with You:
- To respond to your inquiries, comments, or requests.
- To send you important notices, updates, or administrative messages.
- For marketing and promotional purposes, where you have consented (see Section 4.2).
- For Security and Fraud Prevention:
- To maintain the safety and security of our Website and services.
- To detect, prevent, and investigate fraud or other malicious activities.
- To verify your identity and ensure that you are an authorized user.
- For Legal and Compliance Purposes:
- To comply with our legal obligations under South African law (e.g., POPIA, Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, Consumer Protection Act).
- To enforce our Terms of Use and other agreements.
- To protect our rights, property, or safety, and that of our customers or others.
- For Analytics and Research:
- To perform data analysis, research, and statistical analysis to understand user behavior and trends.
- To monitor and analyze the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising campaigns.
4. Lawful Basis for Processing Your Information
We will only process your personal information if we have a lawful basis to do so, as required by POPIA. These lawful bases include:
- Consent: Where you have given us explicit consent to process your personal information for one or more specific purposes (e.g., for marketing communications). You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Contract: Where the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (e.g., processing your order).
- Legal Obligation: Where the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which Shopciti is subject.
- Legitimate Interests: Where the processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by Shopciti or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. This includes, for example, improving our services, preventing fraud, and ensuring the security of our systems.
5. Disclosure of Your Information
We may disclose your personal information to the following categories of recipients:
- Service Providers: We may share your information with trusted third-party service providers who perform functions on our behalf, such as payment processors, shipping and delivery companies, IT and infrastructure providers, and marketing service providers. These third parties are contractually obligated to keep your personal information confidential and to use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them, in compliance with POPIA.
- Legal and Regulatory Authorities: We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order, government agency).
- Business Transfers: In the event of a merger, acquisition, restructuring, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personal information may be transferred to the acquiring entity. We will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for such transfers.
- Protection of Shopciti and Others: We may disclose your personal information when we believe it is appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of Shopciti, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to any third parties for their marketing purposes without your explicit consent.
6. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies
We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Website and hold certain information. Cookies are small files placed on your device. We use the following types of cookies:
- Necessary Cookies: Essential for the operation of our Website, enabling core functionalities like security, network management, and accessibility.
- Performance/Analytical Cookies: Allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Website works.
- Functionality Cookies: Used to recognise you when you return to our Website, enabling us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences.
- Targeting/Advertising Cookies: Record your visit to our Website, the pages you have visited, and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our Website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of the Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
7. Data Security
We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. These measures include:
- Encryption: Using encryption technologies for data in transit and at rest where appropriate.
- Access Control: Restricting access to personal information to employees, agents, and service providers who need to know that information to process it for us and who are subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations.
- Firewalls and Security Software: Employing firewalls and robust security software to protect our systems.
- Regular Audits: Conducting regular security audits and assessments.
- Incident Response Plan: Maintaining a plan to address potential data breaches.
While we strive to protect your personal information, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk.
8. Data Retention
We will retain your personal information only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
9. Your Rights as a Data Subject
Under POPIA, you have certain rights regarding your personal information. These include:
- Right to Access: You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you. To do this, please contact us using the details below. We may require proof of identity before providing you with your personal information.
- Right to Correction/Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct or update any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
- Right to Deletion/Erasure: You have the right to request the deletion or destruction of your personal information under certain circumstances (e.g., if the information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or if you withdraw your consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing).
- Right to Object: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information under certain conditions, including where processing is based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
- Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request the restriction of processing of your personal information under certain circumstances (e.g., if you contest the accuracy of the data, for a period enabling us to verify the accuracy).
- Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your rights under POPIA have been infringed.
The Information Regulator (South Africa):
- Physical Address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001
- Postal Address: P.O Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017
- Email: complaints.IR@justice.gov.za
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided in Section 11.
10. Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will post any changes on this page with a revised “Last Updated” date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Website after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.
11. Contact Information
If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, our data practices, or if you wish to exercise your rights, please contact our Information Officer at:
Shopciti Information Officer
Email: [Your Customer Service Email Address] (e.g., privacy@shopciti.co.za or customercare@shopciti.co.za)
Telephone: [Your Customer Service Phone Number] (e.g., 0860 123 456)
Physical Address: [Your Company’s Physical Address in South Africa]