An online store is not a brochure site with a cart bolted on. It takes payments, holds stock, calculates VAT, talks to couriers and has to work smoothly on a phone at eleven at night. That makes the company you hire to build it more important than for almost any other web project. Dubai has no shortage of developers happy to quote for a store. Here is how we would choose one if we were in your seat.
Start with your business, not the platform
Before you speak to anyone, write down what you sell, how many products you have, where you deliver and how people will pay. A store with 40 perfumes delivered across the UAE has very different needs from a B2B supplier with thousands of products and trade pricing.
A good developer will ask about these things in the first meeting. If the conversation jumps straight to themes and colours, that tells you a lot about how the rest of the project will go.
Look at stores they have launched, on your phone
Portfolios are full of beautiful screenshots. Ask for links to live stores instead, then open them on your own phone, on mobile data rather than office wifi. Add something to the cart and go as far as checkout. Notice how long pages take to appear, whether buttons are easy to tap, and whether anything jumps around while it loads.
Most of your customers will shop exactly like this, so this ten-minute test tells you more than any pitch deck. If you can, ask one or two of their clients how the project went and what happened after launch. Teams that do good work are usually happy to connect you.
Ask why they recommend a platform
Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento and fully custom builds all have their place. What you want is a developer who can explain why one suits you, including the downsides:
- Shopify is quick to launch and easy to run, but monthly app fees add up and some custom features need workarounds.
- WooCommerce gives you more control and sits on WordPress, but it needs regular updates and good hosting.
- A custom build makes sense for unusual workflows or very large catalogues, and costs more to build and maintain.
Be cautious of anyone who recommends the same platform to every client, or a custom system that only they can maintain.
Check the UAE details are second nature
This is where local experience shows. Your developer should raise these points before you do:
- Payments: a local payment gateway, Apple Pay, and whether you want cash on delivery or buy now, pay later options such as Tabby or Tamara.
- VAT: prices shown inclusive of 5% VAT, and tax invoices that meet UAE requirements.
- Arabic: a proper right-to-left layout, not a translation plugin that breaks the design.
- Delivery: rates and timings by emirate, and integration with the couriers you already use.
- WhatsApp: many UAE shoppers would rather message than fill in a form, so order updates and support on WhatsApp are worth planning for.
Speed, SEO and what happens to your old site
A slow store loses sales, and a new store that ignores search can lose the traffic your old one built up. Ask how they keep pages fast: compressed images, a short list of apps and scripts, decent hosting. Ask how they handle SEO from the start, including page titles, product descriptions written for people rather than copied from suppliers, structured data and a sitemap.
If you are replacing an existing website, ask about redirects. Every old product and category address should point to its new home. Skip this and rankings you earned over years can disappear within weeks.
Find out who owns what
Make sure the domain, hosting, platform account, payment gateway and analytics are registered in your company's name, with the developer added as a user. It sounds like admin, but it is one of the most common problems we see when businesses come to us after falling out with a previous provider. You should be able to change developers without rebuilding your store.
Understand what happens after launch
Launch is the start. Plugins need updating, payment providers change their requirements, and you will want new features once real customers use the store. Ask what a care plan includes, how quickly they respond when something breaks, and whether training is part of handover so your team can add products and run promotions without paying for every change.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Can I see three live stores you built, and speak to one of those clients?
- Which platform do you recommend for us, and what are its limits?
- Which payment and delivery options will be live at launch?
- How will Arabic and VAT be handled?
- What is included in the quote, and what would count as extra?
- Who owns the accounts, code and content when the project ends?
- What does support cost after launch, and how fast do you respond?
Red flags
A quote that arrives before anyone has asked about your products. A timeline that sounds too good to be true. No written scope. Reluctance to show live work. Domains or hosting that can only be held in the developer's name. Any one of these deserves a direct question. Two or more, and you should keep looking.
The short version
Choose the team that asks the best questions, shows you live stores that work well on a phone, and is clear about cost, ownership and support.
The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest store once you count the fixes, lost sales and rebuilds that follow.