A Complete Guide On How To Setup And Use Shopify in the UAE

Setting up an ecommerce website and ensuring profits from it has become easier over all these years. Shopify has turned out to be an all-in-one eCommerce platform, supporting numerous businesses in the UAE and worldwide. For a great user experience, Shopify UAE ecommerce solutions is one of the most popular names with a wide range of modern templates, simplicity and versatility. You can make the best use of Shopify for selling products or Dropshipping. While many consider it difficult to set up their Shopify store, this guide aims at making it simpler. 

Steps To Set Up Shopify In the UAE  

You should understand that Shopify works the same way in the UAE as it does in any other country. Moreover, you may have to consider some special requirements based on your business location or the customers you deal with. You need to finish up an easy process to set up your Shopify store. It is usually less time-consuming than any other eCommerce platforms. If you want to have a shopify expert handle your requirements you just need to contact the top shopify development company in Dubai. 

Select A Suitable Package  

You would be required to sign-up and provide some of your important details to the platform. It will include billing information, biodata, the name of your store etc. Shopify generally offers a 14-day free trial to its customers. This helps you make informed decisions as you can test whether the platform works well for you before you sign up or pay for any package. 

Once you complete your trial, you can choose from the available packages. For example, you may start over with their basic plan of $29/month, which allows you to access the basic features to sell products across existing websites or social media platforms. That’s how you will be able to start a Shopify business from scratch. If you use the Shopify gateway for payments, you can make transactions without any extra charges. Here’s an insight into various Shopify plans available.  

• “Basic Shopify” Plan: As said earlier, the basic plan comes for $29/month. It offers unlimited storage and listing for products, two admin/staff accounts, a website and blog, 24/7 support, SSL certificate, abandoned cart recovery, up to 4 retail stores, warehouses or popups, gift cards, and manual order creation. It’s perfect if you’re starting a new business. 
• “Shopify” Plan: This plan suits well for growing businesses. It costs $79/month and offers everything included in the “Basic Shopify” plan. However, it offers 5 admin/staff accounts, 5 inventory locations, and a professional report of operations.  
• “Advanced Shopify” Plan: The advanced Shopify plan offers you all the necessary features that would help you scale your growing business. This plan comes for $299/month and offers 15 admin/staff accounts, advanced report builder, 8 inventory locations and charges the least transaction fees on the use of a third-party payment gateway. 

Based on the services offered, you can choose a suitable plan to sign up with Shopify (considering whether you want the free trial). 

Create Your Shopify Store 

When you have chosen a suitable pricing package, it’s time that you get your online store ready and running. After you sign into the account you create using the respective email address and password, Shopify’s in-house software creates a custom URL for the dashboard based on your store name and automatically calculates your tax rate. 

Through the dashboard, you can access everything that may be necessary for you to start your eCommerce business. Everything further is easy and straightforward. You can track your existing orders, customers and product inventory. You can also integrate other eCommerce applications to improve customer experience and recurring billing. 

The Shopify app store lets you access numerous, comprehensive plugins to ensure smooth operations. You may look up to them to maintain sales channels on social media, access accounting tools, help desk tools and many more. However, to avoid getting more bills than your business can handle, it’s better to check out pricing before you add something new to your package. You may be required to add a lot of important details on the product page whenever you try to add something new to your package. 

Selecting A Theme 

You would always want your eCommerce store to look professional and up-to-date. Therefore, selecting the right theme becomes important. Shopify offers a wide range of themes to choose from the available 11 categories. Obviously, you can opt for one of the paid themes in the market. However, the free ones are also worth trying. 

While browsing through the themes, you preview a page by clicking on the “Demo” button. When you feel you’re satisfied, you can publish and apply the theme all over. If the free themes don’t make it up to your expectations, you can surely visit the store and find something better. 

Shopify would keep track of the themes you have used in the past. This means if you regret switching to a new theme, you can easily find the previous one. Scrolling through the Themes page on the dashboard is enough. Using the drag-and-drop editor, you can customize the chosen theme or opt to edit the CSS/HTML instead. 

Managing Customer Experience And Payment Gateway For Shopify in the UAE 

No matter how attractive your eCommerce website and shopping cart maybe, if your customers cannot easily navigate the products, it won’t work. It is important to pay attention to user experience so that customers can reach out to preferable sellers and conduct transactions seamlessly. The next thing to consider after user experience is payment gateways. 

Payment Gateways To Use For Shopify in the UAE 

Payment gateways remain an important concern since they determine how the monetary transactions for your eCommerce website take place. You would need a seamless, secure payment channel that is supported in the UAE throughout your journey. Shopify offers “Shopify Payments”, its own payment gateway for easy transactions. 

However, you can always look up to third-party payment gateways that Shopify integrates with. Payments can be made through PayPal Express, BitPay, iPayLinks, 2Checkout, Tap, Telr etc. Mostly when you use a payment gateway other than Shopify, you may be charged some fees. Having multiple payment gateways lets customers conduct smooth transactions. Referring to some guides for the same is always suggestible. 

Blogs And Additional Setup 

Marketing your brand and store is something important. According to Shopify experts, blogs are great ways to improve ranking, engage customers and subsequently increase sales. Apart from an order form and various inventory pages, there’s much more to your eCommerce website. Your customers would want to know some other important details of your brand. Shopify lets you create suitable blogs to improve SEO rankings and engage with your customers. Including other static pages like “About Us” and FAQ will make things even better. 

Shopify in UAE does not have its own email marketing tool; it offers a virtual marketing assistant through its feature called “Kit”. Businesses can create Instagram and Facebook Ads that perform better. When you sign-up for the 14-day free trial, you get everything that may be necessary to set up a perfect online store. Further, you can decide how you wish to continue operations. While people are mostly satisfied with the basic plan, you can look for an upgrade if you need in-depth features and support. 

Do You Need A License For Shopify in the UAE? 

Just like any other country, you would need a business license to sell products online through your Shopify store in the UAE. Different licenses allow you to conduct a specific set of business activities. When considering a Shopify store in the UAE, you need to have the following licenses: 

• E-Commerce Activities License: With an eCommerce activities license, you can sell local products, i.e. the ones that have been registered in the UAE, through an online store. 
• Trading Activities License: A trading activities license allows you to export and import goods from and to the country. It lets you sell global products.  

Thus, if you want to sell international products in the UAE, you would need both of the licenses mentioned above. However, if you wish to deal only with local products through your online store, only an E-commerce activities license is enough. According to your preferences, you can merge both business activities into one license. It is important to note that if your E-commerce business operates under an E-commerce activity license, you can sell your products in the local market only through local distributors or agents. This means a third-party would be your last-mile service provider. You cannot sell products directly to consumers on the UAE mainland. In order to get more information you can contact the best business setup company in the UAE

You Can Always Look Up To Shopify Customer Service Support  

If you find yourself stuck somewhere, you can reach out to Shopify customer services support via phone calls, emails, or live chat. There are various forums where numerous users discuss issues, share solutions and their experiences. You can easily find suitable answers there. All Shopify stores provide standard support to their users. You can seek help whenever needed.  

Summing Up  

There are a lot of important factors to consider when setting up your Shopify store. This guide will surely make it easier for you to collect resources and move ahead step-by-step towards a smooth running and evolving online store.