Wootware is one of South Africa’s most well known online retailers for PC components and peripherals. I’ve never used them though. They’re based in Cape Town and while I’ve known they exist I’ve always purchased from one of the Johannesburg retailers (I’m well aware this makes no sense, as online is online, but it is the case). A few weeks ago I’d finally had enough of having to choose which games to uninstall every time I needed to download a new game. My PC’s SSD was full and I desperately needed an additional hard drive. I’d budgeted around R1000 for the purchase and jumped on to two competitor sites, both of which didn’t have stock of what I was looking for (I also wanted a specific brand as well, just a preference). Wootware had stock and at a good price. So I purchased.
Navigating the site
Most online PC retailer sites aren’t all that pretty to browse. They’re filled with banner ads and part numbers everywhere. However, I thought the Wootware site was relatively clean and easy to navigate. They have a rolling banner at the top of the site and keep everything simple on a plain white background. I used the search functionality to look for the product I needed and was easily directed to it. Once adding it to my basket I checked out. You can choose to create an account or just buy immediately.
Checking out and payment
Check out was simple enough. What I liked was the option to choose which courier company I wanted to ship with as well as how long I was willing to wait. I went with the FedEx option, which was overnight and cost around R112. You’re able to choose a 24 hour option from Dawn Wing as well, or if you’re willing to wait a few more days there are other courier options as well. You can also collect, however not during Lock Down. Payment options were either an EFT or Credit Card. I went the credit card route. Wootware uses Peach Payments to capture card payments. I’ve never used Peach before. It worked fine, there was a slight delay once payment had gone through to return me back to the main site, but Peach sent me a mail confirming payment had been received before I was redirected so I felt confident. I also then received a mail from Wootware a few minutes later confirming my order and that payment was being processed. I placed this order at about 10pm at night, the next morning I received a tax invoice for my records.
Courier and Delivery
I placed my order on a Sunday night after 10pm. The hard drive arrived before 9am the Tuesday after. I was impressed at the turn around time, considering I knew Wootware was Cape Town based and that I’d placed the order at an odd time. My order arrived well packaged in a brown box with fragile stickers on it. I’ve shown what the box looked like in the picture above. On opening it the hard drive was extremely well protected with bubble wrap and in its anti-static bag. I’d have preferred it be in its own box but I presume these are purchased in bulk and individually wrapped in the anti-static bags. So aren’t boxed from supplier.
An extra note
A few days later I realised I needed a SATA cable too and didn’t want to brave the stores so I purchased on Wootware again. The cable was on special for R20 so I purchased two and again paid for the R112 24 hours delivery. The cables arrived at record speed again and were once again extremely well packaged.
Final thoughts
My first online shopping experience with Wootware was really great. I had some serious concerns because I’d seen a lot of complaints online around online PC part retailers and delays with getting stock, delays with couriers and a lack of communication. Wootware’s automated system ensures you receive a mail when you place your order, after payment is processed, when the order is dispatched and a few days after delivery you’re emailed and prompted to review your product.
Overall – a great online shopping experience and I’ll definitely utilise them again.
Disclosure: I used my own money to make these purchases and Wootware was not aware I was going to review their offering.
