Services
01 / 05
Website Design
Custom website design focused on clarity, usability, and credibility. We specialise in WordPress, building sites that communicate clearly and encourage visitors to take action.
Explore web designWho we build for
Built around how your industry works
Insights
Insights that shape our approach
16 October 2026
Trade ordering online: how distributors and wholesalers can stop taking orders by WhatsApp and email
Read article
18 June 2026
Should your East London business sell online? WooCommerce vs marketplaces
Read article
1 June 2026
The hidden cost of running an outdated website
Read article
Trade portals, account pricing, quick reorders and live stock. Built to load fast and get found.
Buyers order straight into your system instead of sending WhatsApps and emails that someone has to capture by hand.
Contract rates, account discounts and volume breaks apply automatically the moment a buyer logs in.
Availability shown per branch and updated from your system, so buyers stop phoning to ask if it’s on the shelf.
The quicker a buyer can find a part and place an order, the less reason they have to try another supplier. Each feature exists to make that quicker.
Thousands of lines organised by category and brand, searchable by part number, size or description, with data sheets and clear photos on every product.
Buyers type in part numbers, paste a list or upload a spreadsheet, and the whole order lands in the cart at once. Any past order can be repeated in one click.
Each approved account sees its own contract prices, discounts and volume breaks, with minimum order quantities per product and orders on account up to the credit limit you set.
Stock levels pulled from your system and shown per branch or warehouse, with expected dates on back-ordered lines, so buyers know before they order.
A page for every brand you carry, plus equivalent part numbers across brands, so a buyer searching for another supplier's code still finds your stock.
Order history, invoices, statements and proof of delivery behind one login, synced with your accounting system so your team isn't answering the same account queries all day.
Pricing starts at R22,000. Where your site lands depends on how much of the list above your business needs, and we’ll tell you which parts are worth it before you pay for anything.
Measure a site like this against what it saves and what it brings in. If your sales desk spends two hours a day capturing orders from WhatsApp and email, that’s over 40 hours of someone’s time every month. One new account that orders weekly usually covers the build within the year.
Spread over three years, a R35,000 build costs less than R1,000 a month, and it keeps taking orders after your counter closes.
You can find cheaper websites, and for a small counter trade that might be enough. The difference is the work behind it. A template gives you pages. What we build is planned around how your buyers actually order, loaded with your real product data, and tested with real orders before launch. That takes weeks, and the price reflects it.
DC Installations, a duct and steel manufacturer in East London, brought in R80,000 in the first three weeks of their new site.
Every quote is fixed and itemised, so you can see what each part costs and drop anything you don’t need.
First we talk about how your business actually runs.
How orders reach you now, how you price different customers, where your stock data lives, and which queries tie up your sales desk. No forms and no brief to fill in. One conversation usually covers it.
You get a price before anything starts, and it does not move.
We write up exactly what is being built, broken down so you can see what each part costs on its own, with a date for when it will be finished. Nothing begins until you are happy with both.
We lay the pages out around the way your customers actually buy.
Not a stock layout with your logo dropped into it. You see every page before a line of code exists, which is the stage where changing your mind costs nothing but a conversation.
Nothing gets built until you have said yes to the design.
You tell us what to change and we change it. This is the cheapest point in the whole job to be picky, so we would rather you were picky here than after it is built.
The site gets built, and you watch it happen.
You get a link to see it coming together rather than waiting to be shown the finished article. Anything that needs adjusting gets adjusted while we are still in there working on it.
You place real orders through it before your customers do.
Real orders and reorders from a test trade account, checked on phones, tablets and desktop. Then we handle the switch-over, the domain and the email. Your old site stays live until the new one is ready.
We stay on it after launch.
Updates, backups and security handled in the background. When something needs changing, it comes straight to us and is usually done within one business day.
“We relied on word of mouth for over 40 years and never saw the need for a website. Within weeks of launching we already had an order come through it. SouthLine understood what we do and built something that genuinely represents us.”
Kelly Coetzer
Managing Director, DC Installations
Most essential sites are live three to four weeks after you approve the quote. A full catalogue or trade portal takes six to ten weeks, and the biggest factor is usually how tidy your product data is. You’ll get a finish date in writing before we start.
50% deposit to start, 25% once you’ve approved the design, and the final 25% before the site goes live. The price is fixed, so it won’t change halfway through unless you ask us to add something.
Less than you’d expect. After one conversation, we’ll need your logo, a product export from your system or a spreadsheet, and the brand logos you’re allowed to show. We write the page content, and you approve it before anything goes live.
Yes. We’ll look at what’s working and what isn’t, and either improve it or rebuild it, depending on which makes more sense. Your current site stays up until the new one is tested and ready, so there’s no downtime.
Usually, yes. Sage, Pastel and most ERPs can sync stock, pricing and orders with the site, so orders don’t get captured twice. Some systems need a connector with its own monthly fee. If yours does, you’ll know the cost upfront, and we bill it at cost.
Yes. Products are imported from your stock system or a spreadsheet, not loaded one at a time, and search is set up so buyers can find a part by its code as well as its name. Product import shows as its own line on your quote.
For a site that takes quotes, orders or bookings, we’d say yes. From R1,500 a month, we look after hosting, updates, backups and security, and make small changes within one business day. Your site connects to forms, email and the systems you already use, and those connections need regular updates to keep working. Without that care, things can stop working without anyone noticing.
We’re based in East London but work with businesses across South Africa. Meetings happen by video call, and everything else by email or phone.
Yes. Once your site is live, we can also look after the work that keeps enquiries coming in:
Every business runs differently. Fill in the form below and we’ll come back within one business day with an itemised quote.
Chris Kretschmann · Founder
If you'd rather talk it through than wait for email, book a 30-minute call, it just helps us get your quote right the first time.
Pick a call timeNot ready for a call? No problem. We'll reply by email within one business day.
A short guide on the places enquiries quietly go missing, and what to do about each one.
I email you the guide, then once to ask if it helped. Tell me to stop any time.
