1 Data Controller Information
SouthAfricanShops.uk ("we", "our", "us", or "the Directory") operates as the dedicated independent online directory and price comparison platform for South African butcheries, grocery shops, Cape wine merchants, biltong bars, and expat trade services across Great Britain.
For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, SouthAfricanShops.uk is the Data Controller responsible for your personal data when you visit our website, submit business listings, register customer accounts, or subscribe to Saffa Club deal notifications.
• Email: [email protected]
• Registered Entity: SouthAfricanShops.uk Directory Services
• Geographic Jurisdiction: United Kingdom (England & Wales)
2 Information We Collect
We collect and process personal data strictly necessary to provide directory services, maintain accurate price comparison data, and connect UK consumers with authentic South African retailers. Depending on your interactions, this includes:
- Account & Registration Details: Full name, email address, password hashes (argon2id/bcrypt), role status (Super Admin, Store Merchant, Expat Merchant, Consumer), and account creation timestamps.
- Business & Store Owner Information: Business trading name, physical branch addresses, postcodes, contact telephone numbers, business email addresses, WhatsApp customer order numbers, social profile URLs, food hygiene ratings, and menu/price lists.
- Expat Club & Alert Subscriptions: Email address and regional preference (e.g. Greater London, Surrey, Midlands) submitted to receive weekly butchery drops, gem squash alerts, and store clearance discount codes.
- Event & Community Submissions: Event titles, organizer names, contact details, venue addresses, dates, and ticket links for Saffa meetups and braai festivals.
- Technical & Analytical Data: Anonymized IP addresses, browser types, screen resolutions, referring URLs, device telemetry, and interactions with store price comparisons and Leaflet map pins.
3 Lawful Bases & How We Use Your Data
Under UK GDPR Article 6, we only process personal data when a lawful basis applies:
| Processing Purpose | Data Categories | Lawful Basis (UK GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Operating Directory & Price Index | Store details, product prices, stockists | Legitimate Interests (providing accurate consumer price transparency) |
| Merchant Portal & Listing Moderation | Merchant names, contact info, logins | Contract Performance & Legitimate Interests |
| Saffa Club Email Alerts | Email address, regional preferences | Consent (opt-in with instant 1-click unsubscribe) |
| Platform Security & Abuse Prevention | IP addresses, login logs, session tokens | Legal Obligation & Legitimate Interests |
4 Store Listings & Merchant Profiles
Public directory listings display business information (trading names, storefront addresses, butchery opening hours, WhatsApp links, and public retail prices) intended for public consumer discovery.
If you are a South African shop owner or tradesperson who wishes to claim, verify, update, correct, or remove your business listing from SouthAfricanShops.uk, you may do so at any time via our Partner Portal or by emailing [email protected] with your store details.
5 Third-Party Sharing & Processors
We never sell, rent, or trade personal consumer or merchant information. We share data only with verified sub-processors necessary to run the service:
- Hosting & Server Infrastructure: Secure enterprise cloud servers located in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA) with SSL/TLS encryption.
- Interactive Map Tiles: OpenStreetMap & Leaflet.js tile services to render store coordinates and radius distance lookups.
- Direct Communications: When you click a retailer's direct WhatsApp or telephone button, you are redirected to third-party communication channels subject to the respective provider's privacy policy.
6 Security & Data Retention
We implement stringent technical and organizational security controls:
- All site traffic is encrypted in transit via 256-bit TLS/HTTPS.
- Passwords are hashed using industry-standard cryptographic algorithms (Argon2 / BCrypt) and are never stored in plaintext.
- Administrative portals require authenticated session tokens with role-based access control.
- We retain personal account information only for as long as your account remains active. If an account is closed or a deletion request is received, personal data is permanently expunged within 30 days.
7 Your UK GDPR Rights
Under UK data protection law, you possess key rights regarding your personal information:
- Right to Access: Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Right to Rectification: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete details.
- Right to Erasure ("Right to be Forgotten"): Request that we delete your personal data.
- Right to Restrict Processing: Ask us to pause processing your personal data.
- Right to Data Portability: Request transfer of your data to another provider in machine-readable format.
- Right to Object: Object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
To exercise any of these rights, please email our Data Protection team at [email protected]. We respond to all verified requests within one calendar month without charge.
If you believe your data has been handled improperly, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
9 Contact & Inquiries
If you have questions, comments, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please reach out to us:
• Email: [email protected]
• General Support: [email protected]
• Website: https://southafricanshops.uk