Devvista is a software development and growth agency. For merchants in the United Arab Emirates we build, migrate and extend Shopify stores where VAT registration, dirham pricing, payment methods and often an Arabic storefront are settled before the first order.
Below you will find what to decide first, what we build, how a project runs, a worked cost example and how to measure the result.
The problem: a store that is live but not ready for UAE buyers
Opening a Shopify store in the UAE takes a day. Making it ready takes planning. Prices need to read in dirhams, VAT treatment has to match your registration, the checkout should offer the payment methods your buyers use, and many merchants want an Arabic storefront alongside English.
The cause is that these decisions are spread across tax, payments and design, so nobody owns them. The fix is a short plan covering each, agreed before the build and tested with real orders. We cover them in order below.
VAT in the UAE: settle registration before you build
The Federal Tax Authority says the mandatory VAT registration threshold is AED 375,000 and the voluntary threshold is AED 187,500. A business must register if the total value of its taxable supplies and imports exceeds the mandatory threshold over the previous 12 months, or is expected to within the next 30 days. The FTA adds that the mandatory threshold is not applicable to foreign businesses.
On the Shopify side, Shopify's tax page does not cover the UAE, so we do not assume any built-in treatment: we configure tax settings with you, confirm them with your accountant and with Shopify support, then test them. The same page states that tax is your responsibility.
| Question to settle | Source of the answer |
|---|---|
| Are you over AED 375,000 over the last 12 months, or expecting to be? | FTA guidance and your accountant |
| Would voluntary registration at AED 187,500 help you? | Your accountant |
| Are you a foreign business selling into the UAE? | FTA says the mandatory threshold does not apply; confirm your position |
| Will prices show VAT-inclusive? | Your decision, tested end to end |
| How will Shopify handle VAT in your admin? | Confirmed with Shopify support, since its tax page does not cover the UAE |
We do not give tax advice. We make the store match your answers.
Payments, dirhams and buyers elsewhere in the Gulf
Shopify lists the United Arab Emirates among the countries for Shopify Payments (Shopify Payments supported countries page), on the condition that the business is located in a listed country. If it is not, another provider is planned in.
Shopify Markets lets one store treat regions differently, and Shopify's market pricing help says prices convert at the current rate unless you set them, with rounding available.
If you ship to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or Qatar, decide early whether each gets its own settings. The answer changes prices, shipping rates and the reconciliation your accountant does.
What we build for UAE merchants
- Bilingual stores. Theme, menus and checkout in English and Arabic if you need both, shown on a development store first.
- ERP links. An app that moves orders, stock and refunds between Shopify and Odoo or another system through its API. Devvista is an official Odoo partner; see Odoo implementation in the UAE and custom Shopify app development.
- Wholesale pricing. Prices by customer. Custom apps that contain Shopify Function APIs run only on Plus stores (Shopify Functions documentation).
- Gulf selling. Separate market settings for the countries you ship to.
- Platform moves from WooCommerce, Magento or BigCommerce, set out on our migration page and in the Magento to Shopify guide, whose market table includes the UAE.
- Checkout and speed fixes on a store that already exists.
Right-to-left layout: what to ask for
Arabic reads right to left, so the theme, menus, product pages and checkout emails need to work in that direction as well as the text. Ask any developer to show a working Arabic page, not a screenshot, and to say whether the chosen theme supports right-to-left layout.
Decide which parts need Arabic: the storefront, product descriptions, emails or policies. Adding it later costs more than planning for it, and it shapes your search content. We scope English and Arabic together and test both with real orders. Our Arabic Odoo page shows how we handle Arabic in business systems.
How a UAE project is run
- Audit. Catalog, apps, integrations, traffic and the languages needed.
- Tax and payment decisions. VAT registration status, payment methods and currencies, confirmed and written down.
- Integration design. What goes to your ERP or accounts, when, and how failures show up.
- Build. Theme, English and Arabic pages if needed, checkout and any app, on a development store.
- Real-order tests. A VAT-inclusive basket, a part refund, and an Arabic checkout where relevant.
- Launch and review. Switch over, check Search Console and compare orders with the baseline.
What it costs: a worked example for a UAE store
Fixed projects sit between $500 and $100,000, depending on complexity. Hourly work sits between $10 and $100, depending on the developer. We quote in US dollars.
Illustration (an estimate, not a quote). A new store with 250 products, English and Arabic storefronts with right-to-left layout and an app sending orders and stock to an ERP, at an assumed $40 an hour:
| Piece of work | Hours |
|---|---|
| Audit, VAT and payment planning | 12 |
| English theme and checkout | 30 |
| Arabic storefront with right-to-left layout | 30 |
| Catalog import and checks, two languages | 20 |
| ERP link app | 35 |
| Testing and launch | 18 |
| Total | 145 hours, about $5,800 |
An English-only store with no ERP link costs less. More markets or custom rules cost more.
Signs the setup is working
Three numbers tell you, checked monthly: the gap between Shopify order totals and your books, orders that needed a manual fix, and conversion by language. When the VAT lines on orders match what your accountant reports, the tax setup is doing its job. If they differ, we trace the gap to a setting during the handover period.
Who gets the most from this, and who does not
UAE merchants with a clear catalog who want VAT, payments, languages and back-office links handled together get the most. Anyone who needs a team on site in the UAE does not: Devvista works remotely and has no UAE office.
Related pages: eCommerce development and hire Shopify developers.