Western vs Eastern Arabic Numerals: Which Should GCC Stores Use?

Should your Arabic store say 1,299 or ١٬٢٩٩? For prices, phone numbers and order IDs, use 1,299.

Gulf shoppers read both digit sets. But marketplaces, banking apps and delivery SMS all use Western digits, and that's what people type.

The harder part is technical. A single locale setting can switch your Saudi prices to Eastern digits without anyone noticing. Here's which digits to use where, and the few lines of code that keep them right.

Which numerals do Gulf shoppers expect?

Western digits (0–9) are the standard for online shopping in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the rest of the GCC. Eastern Arabic digits (٠–٩) are still common in print, religious texts and some official documents.

Saudis and Emiratis read both systems, and Saudi Arabia increasingly favours Western digits.

Qatar made the shift official. Since 1 September 2023, its government uses Western digits in all official transactions and correspondence. That's a clear sign of where the region is heading.

The big regional stores follow the same pattern. Noon, Amazon.sa and most Salla stores show Western digits on their Arabic pages.

So what should you do? Default to Western digits everywhere. If you want Eastern digits for an editorial or Ramadan feel, keep them to those pages and never mix the two sets on one page.

Why are there two kinds of Arabic numerals?

Both sets grew from Indian digits that travelled through the Arab world. The Maghreb kept the forms Europe adopted (0–9), while the Arab east used ٠١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩.

Here's a naming trap. In Gulf Arabic, 0–9 are often called الأرقام العربية ("Arabic numerals"), and ٠–٩ الأرقام الهندية ("Hindi numerals"). Spell out the actual digits in every translation brief.

There's also a third set: Persian digits (۰–۹), used in Iran and Afghanistan. They have their own Unicode code points, and several digits are shaped differently. Never let them into a Gulf store, because shoppers read them as typos.

The ar-SA trap: why your prices turn into ١٢٣

Unicode's locale data (CLDR) makes Arabic-Indic digits the default for ar-SA. For ar-AE and plain ar, the default is Western digits.

So the same code prints different digits by country:

The fix is one tag. Add -u-nu-latn to the Saudi locale, or pass numberingSystem: "latn" in the options:

Dates have the same digit trap, so format order dates with ar-SA-u-ca-gregory-nu-latn. Our Hijri vs Gregorian dates guide covers the calendar side and when Hijri is worth showing.

Numbers inside Arabic text

Digits always read left to right, even inside an Arabic sentence. The browser handles this well on its own, but punctuation and currency labels next to a number can jump to the wrong side.

Three habits prevent it:

• Wrap prices and IDs in <bdi>. "SAR 249" and order "#100482" then stay in one piece.
• Set phone, OTP and card fields to dir="ltr". Keep the Arabic label, but let the digits run normally.
• Use LRM (U+200E) in plain text. SMS and WhatsApp templates can't use HTML, so put an LRM before a number that starts or ends a line.

The full mirroring rules live in our RTL design guide for Arabic stores.

Normalise the digits shoppers type

Many Gulf phones run an Arabic keyboard. When a shopper types a phone number or OTP, the field may receive ٠٥٥١٢٣٤٥٦٧ instead of 0551234567.

Your validation then rejects a perfectly good number. The shopper sees "invalid phone" and leaves.

Convert digits before you validate or save. This small function handles Arabic-Indic and Persian digits, plus the Arabic decimal and thousands marks:

Run it on phone, OTP, postcode, National Address, coupon, quantity and search fields. Add inputmode="numeric" to number fields, so phones open the number pad.

Then store everything as plain ASCII digits. Change digits only at display time, never in your database.

Do numerals matter for Arabic SEO?

Yes, mostly through product names. Shoppers search model numbers and sizes in Western digits, such as "آيفون 17" or "مقاس 42".

Keep Western digits in product titles, meta titles, descriptions and URLs. Eastern digits in a URL get percent-encoded into long, unreadable strings.

Structured data needs the same care. Prices in Product schema must be plain numbers like 1299.00, whatever your page shows. For language targeting, see our bilingual SEO guide.

Worked example: one Saudi order, end to end

A shopper in Riyadh buys earbuds for SAR 249 on your Arabic store. Here's where the digits can go wrong, and the right result at each step:

1

Product page

The price shows 249 ر.س, formatted with ar-SA-u-nu-latn and wrapped in bdi. Plain ar-SA would have printed ٢٤٩.

2

Checkout

She types her mobile number on an Arabic keyboard. The field converts ٠٥٥١٢٣٤٥٦٧ to 0551234567, and validation passes.

3

OTP

The 4-digit code arrives by SMS in Western digits. She pastes it, and the field accepts it from any keyboard.

4

Confirmation

The page shows the order number and a delivery date of 28 October in Western digits, using the Gregorian calendar.

5

Delivery SMS

The courier's Arabic SMS puts an LRM before the tracking number, so it doesn't jump to the wrong end of the line.

Five small checks, and not a single failed checkout from a keyboard setting. Run the same walk-through on your own store with a real Arabic keyboard before launch.

Notes for Shopify stores

• Shopify prints prices through the store's money format, which uses Western digits. The risk is apps and custom scripts that call ar-SA formatting.
• Test review, upsell and countdown apps on the Arabic storefront, because those widgets often format numbers themselves.
• Follow our Arabic Shopify store guide for the rest of the Arabic setup.

Notes for Salla and Zid stores

• Both platforms are Arabic-first, and their storefronts show Western digits in prices and checkout. Still check your theme and notification templates.
• Your job is content: write prices, sizes and specs in 0–9 in product descriptions and banners.
• Brief your designers too. Tools like Photoshop have a digit setting that can switch Arabic text to ٠–٩ in banner artwork.

Notes for custom and headless builds

• Set one locale map, such as ar-SA to ar-SA-u-nu-latn, and reuse it in the storefront, emails and PDFs.
• Run the normalisation function on the server too, not only in the browser.
• For price display rules like the new riyal sign and VAT-inclusive prices, see SAR and AED pricing.

Get the digits right once, and every price, order and delivery message reads like it was built in the Gulf. Next, make the rest of your store feel just as local with our localization guides.