Privacy Policy

Shankara operates an online storefront and customer dashboard for ready-to-wear Ankara pieces and made-to-order custom work. We deliver within Kenya (and may expand later). Order and payment notices may come from orders@shankara.co.ke; general enquiries may use info@shankara.co.ke.

Depending on how you use Shankara, we may collect:

• Account details — email address, password (stored as a secure hash), name, phone number, and email verification status.
• Profile & shipping contact — delivery name as on ID, national ID number, phone, town/city, county, and related address fields used for checkout and logistics.
• Orders — products or custom work, sizes, quantities, delivery fee, order status, and public order codes.
• Payments (bookkeeping) — amount, method (for example M-Pesa, cash, card, Stripe), payment status, transaction reference, and payer phone when recorded by staff. We do not store full card numbers on our servers for manual records.
• Custom designs — images you upload, garment type, fabric preference, size, instructions, and delivery location notes for quoting and production.
• Favourites — products you save to your wishlist while signed in.
• Messages — name, email, enquiry type, subject, and body when you use our contact form (public or dashboard). These are stored and may be emailed to our support team.
• Marketing — email address if you subscribe for updates.
• Technical data — IP address, browser type, device and approximate location signals, pages viewed, and referral information. Some of this is collected through our own logs and through analytics tools (see cookies and analytics below).
• Session data — cookies required to keep you signed in securely.

• Create and secure your account, and verify your email where required.
• Process catalog and custom orders, calculate delivery fees (Nairobi KES 300; outside Nairobi KES 600), and coordinate fulfilment.
• Record and display payment status on your orders (customers see payments read-only in the dashboard).
• Review custom design uploads, prepare quotes, and communicate production progress.
• Send transactional email (order confirmation, status changes, payment notices, password and email-change verification).
• Respond to support and contact-form messages.
• Send marketing updates only if you have subscribed (you can unsubscribe via the link in those emails).
• Protect the site (rate limits, session management, fraud and abuse prevention).
• Understand how the website is used (for example popular pages, traffic sources, and basic device types) so we can improve performance, content, and shopping experience.
• Improve our products, website, and customer experience.

We process personal data under the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, including where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you (orders and custom work), where we have a legitimate interest in operating, securing, and understanding use of our website and business, where we must comply with law, or where you have given consent (for example optional marketing subscriptions).

We do not sell your personal data. We may share limited information with:

• Staff and service providers who help us operate the store (hosting, email delivery, payment gateways when used, logistics partners).
• Analytics providers — we use Google Analytics 4(Google Ireland Limited / Google LLC) to measure site traffic and usage. Google may process technical data such as IP address, device and browser information, and pages visited, in accordance with Google's privacy terms and our configuration of the service. We use this for aggregated insights about the storefront, not to sell your identity to advertisers.
• Professional advisers or authorities when required by law or to protect rights and safety.

Payment references (such as M-Pesa codes) may appear on order records so we and you can reconcile payment. Third-party processors handle card or gateway data under their own terms when you pay through them.

Essential session cookie. We use an HTTP-only cookie (auth_session) to keep you signed in. It is required for authentication and account security. If you clear cookies in your browser, you will need to sign in again.

Shopping bag. Cart contents may be stored in your browser (local storage) so your bag persists while you shop.

Analytics (Google Analytics 4).We load Google's analytics tag (gtag.js) on our public website so we can see how visitors use pages such as the home page, shop, and product details. This may set or read cookies or similar identifiers managed by Google, and send usage data to Google's systems. We do not use this tag for third-party display advertising networks on our behalf. You can limit analytics cookies through your browser settings, privacy extensions, or Google's own tools where available; blocking analytics may not affect core shopping or checkout, but it will reduce the accuracy of our traffic reports.

For more detail on how Google processes data, see Google's privacy documentation for Google Analytics and the Google Privacy Policy.

• Account, order, and payment records are kept for as long as needed to fulfil orders, handle disputes, and meet legal or accounting requirements.
• Custom upload images may expire according to our queue rules; related order records may be retained longer.
• Contact messages are retained so we can follow up and improve support.
• Marketing subscribers remain until they unsubscribe or we remove inactive addresses.
• Sessions expire (for example after about seven days) or when you log out.

We use industry-standard measures such as password hashing, signed session tokens, HTTPS in production, and rate limiting on sensitive actions. No online service is perfectly secure; please use a strong unique password and keep your login private.

Subject to Kenyan law, you may request to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you.
• Correct inaccurate details (you can update much of this in your dashboard profile and shipping settings).
• Request deletion or restriction of processing where applicable.
• Object to certain processing or withdraw marketing consent.

Contact support@shankara.co.ke or use our contact form. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

Our services are intended for adults who can form a binding contract. We do not knowingly collect data from children under 18. If you believe a minor has provided data, contact support so we can delete it.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “Last updated” date at the top will change when we do. Continued use of the site after updates means you accept the revised policy where permitted by law.

Privacy and support: support@shankara.co.ke
Phone / WhatsApp: +254 745 023 109
Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Related: Terms & Conditions.