Privacy notice

Privacy & cookies

This page explains what data SME Stack collects, how cookies and analytics work on this site, and how to exercise your rights under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

This page is maintained by the SME Stack team as editable content to answer common privacy and cookie questions. It is not an independent audit or certification.

Your local data

Export or delete the analytics, attribution and consent data this site has stored on your device. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to us.

Cookies & local storage

SME Stack uses first-party browser storage only. We do not set third-party advertising cookies. The following keys may be written by this site:

sme_stack_consent
Records whether you accepted or declined analytics. Required for the consent gate to work.
sme_stack_session_id
A random per-session identifier. Written only after you accept analytics. Cleared when you close the tab.
sme_stack_first_touch
First-touch attribution (UTM parameters, referrer, landing path) so we can attribute conversions to a marketing source. Written only after you accept analytics.
sme_stack_my_stack, saved partner searches
Feature-specific storage for the My Stack and saved-search features. Required for those features to work and independent of analytics consent.
Supabase authentication cookies
If you sign in, our backend provider (Supabase, used via Lovable Cloud) sets session cookies so you stay signed in. These are strictly necessary and are not covered by the analytics consent choice above.

Analytics events we record

After you accept, product-analytics events are written to our own database (no third-party analytics vendors). Each event includes: a random session ID, the event name, the page path, any UTM parameters present in the URL, and the referrer.

Event	Purpose
hub_view	Records that a category hub page was opened, so we can see which topics get demand.
hub_nav_click	In-page section navigation on a category hub.
hub_cta_click	Clicks on primary CTAs inside a hub (compare, view partner, buying guide, etc.).
hub_funnel_step	Ordered funnel checkpoint (view / cta / pricing_select / conversion) used to measure drop-off per category.
pricing_tier_select	A pricing tier card was chosen on a category hub.
product_card_view	A product card became visible in the hub grid (impression).
mystack_add	A product was added to a visitor's My Stack.
mystack_replace	A product in My Stack was swapped for another.
mystack_replace_confirm	The Swap-in confirmation dialog was confirmed (successful replacement, distinct from cancel).
advisor_form_start	The AI Stack Advisor questionnaire was started.
advisor_step_view	A step of the advisor questionnaire was viewed.
advisor_step_complete	A step of the advisor questionnaire was completed.
advisor_form_complete	The advisor questionnaire was fully completed.
advisor_category_click	A recommended category was clicked from the advisor result.

We do not attach your name, email, IP address or device fingerprint to these events. If you are signed in, your user ID may be attached so you can view your own activity; otherwise events are keyed only by the random session ID.

Hosting & subprocessors

SME Stack is built on the Lovable platform and uses Lovable Cloud (Supabase) for database, authentication and file storage. These are the platform components that process personal information on our behalf. We do not use third-party advertising or tag-manager scripts on this site.

Shared responsibility: Lovable and Supabase provide the underlying platform controls (encryption in transit, managed backups, role-based access). SME Stack is responsible for how we configure those controls, what we collect, and how long we keep it.

Your POPIA rights & contact

Under POPIA you have the right to know what personal information we hold about you, to ask us to correct or delete it, and to withdraw consent for processing that relies on it. To exercise any of these rights, email hello@smestack.co.za. You can also withdraw analytics consent at any time using the buttons at the top of this page.

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