Amazon vs Shopify in the GCC: Where Should You Sell First?

Should you sell on Amazon or build your own Shopify store? In the Gulf, that question has a clearer answer than in most markets.

Amazon is the giant mall. Millions of Saudi and Emirati shoppers already walk through it, and Amazon handles payment and delivery for you. Shopify is your own shop on your own street: you decide everything, but you have to bring every visitor.

My verdict: start on Amazon if you want sales fast. Build on Shopify if you want a brand that owns its customers. Most successful Gulf sellers end up running both.

Below, I compare them on seven things that decide the choice, with a worked example in riyals.

Amazon vs Shopify at a glance

Who is Amazon best for?

Amazon suits sellers who want demand that's already there:

• New sellers who want first sales without building traffic from scratch.
• Search-led products like electronics, home, beauty and grocery, where shoppers type what they want.
• Brands with tight margins that can't afford to pay for every visitor.
• Foreign brands that want payments, delivery and returns handled locally.

Who is Shopify best for?

Shopify suits sellers who want to own the relationship:

• Brands with a story that sell through Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
• Products people re-buy, like fragrance, oud, coffee and skincare.
• Sellers with healthy margins who can pay to win a customer and earn it back later.
• Brands selling in several countries from one store, through Shopify Markets.

1. Reach and traffic: Amazon

Amazon gives you shoppers on day one. Shopify gives you a store with no visitors until you bring them.

Amazon.sa gets about 14 million visits a month, according to Semrush. A good listing with a fair price can catch some of that from week one.

A Shopify store starts at zero. Every visitor comes from your ads, social posts, influencers or Google rankings.

That's not all bad news. Thousands of Gulf brands already run on Shopify, and the traffic they build belongs to them.

2. Fees per order: close on the first order, Shopify on the repeat

The two charge in very different ways. Amazon takes a share of each sale. Shopify takes a small monthly fee and a payment fee, but you pay for delivery and traffic yourself.

Here's how each one charges:

• Amazon. A referral fee of 3–16% depending on the category, plus an FBA fee of about SAR 10 to store and ship a small parcel. The monthly plan fee is waived for now.
• Shopify in Saudi Arabia. Basic costs $19 a month on annual billing. Your gateway charges about 1% on mada, and Shopify adds 2% on gateway orders on Basic.
• Shopify in the UAE. Basic costs $24 a month on annual billing. Shopify Payments charges 2.9% + AED 1 per card payment, with no extra Shopify fee.

Worked example: a SAR 199 perfume gift set

Say you sell an oud gift set for SAR 199 in Saudi Arabia. It weighs 0.6 kg, and you sell 100 a month.

Here's what goes into each column:

• Amazon.sa. Perfume pays a 15% referral fee on the full price, and the set ships with FBA. Half your orders come from Sponsored Products ads, at a 25% ACoS (ad spend ÷ ad sales).
• Shopify Basic. Buyers pay by mada through Amazon Payment Services, and an aggregator courier delivers for SAR 18. Each new customer costs SAR 40 in social ads.
• Monthly costs on Shopify. Basic costs about SAR 71 and the gateway SAR 200. Apps add about SAR 130, so the fixed costs come to SAR 4.01 per order.

Amazon's ad line is a quarter of the price on half your orders. Shopify's is the full SAR 40 on every new buyer.

So the first order is close. Amazon's higher fees are balanced by cheaper customers.

The second order is where Shopify pulls ahead. A returning buyer who orders through your email or WhatsApp costs about SAR 31. On Amazon, the same buyer still pays the full referral fee.

Three costs sit outside this table:

• VAT. About SAR 25.96 of the SAR 199 price is VAT for ZATCA, the Saudi tax authority, on both channels.
• Inbound freight. On Amazon, you pay to get stock into the FBA warehouse.
• Returns and refused COD parcels. These cost more on Shopify, as section 4 shows.

Try Amazon's side with your own numbers

Change the price, category and size to see what Amazon keeps:

Every Amazon fee is in our Amazon Middle East seller fees guide. The Shopify side, plan by plan, is in our guide to Shopify in Saudi Arabia.

3. Control, brand and data: Shopify

On Shopify, the customer is yours. On Amazon, the customer belongs to Amazon.

That changes what you can do next:

• Customer data. Shopify gives you every name, email and phone number. Amazon shares only what it needs to deliver.
• Marketing. You can message Shopify buyers on WhatsApp, email and SMS. On Amazon, you can't contact them outside its rules.
• Price. You set your Shopify price alone. On Amazon, other sellers can join your listing and compete for the Buy Box.
• Design. A Shopify store looks and feels like your brand. Amazon listings all look alike.
• Risk. A suspended Amazon account can stop your sales overnight. Your Shopify store stays yours.

You can protect your brand on Amazon too. Brand Registry gives you control over your listings and unlocks A+ content and Sponsored Brands ads.

4. Payments and COD: Amazon

Amazon handles all of it. Shoppers pay by card, BNPL such as Tabby and Tamara, or cash on delivery. Amazon pays you every 14 days.

On Shopify, the setup depends on where your company is:

• Saudi Arabia. Shopify Payments isn't available, so you connect a local gateway such as Tap, HyperPay or Amazon Payment Services. Approval usually takes two to five business days.
• UAE. A UAE company can use Shopify Payments, with no extra Shopify fee.
• Elsewhere in the GCC. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman also need a third-party gateway.

Then there's cash on delivery. New Shopify stores in Saudi Arabia often see COD on 40–60% of their first orders, because shoppers don't know the brand yet.

COD costs you more than a card payment. Couriers charge about SAR 3–14 per COD parcel, and many UAE merchants see 20–35% of COD orders refused or returned.

The fix is well known. Confirm every COD order on WhatsApp before dispatch, and reward buyers who prepay with mada or Apple Pay. Our cash on delivery guide has the full playbook.

5. Logistics: Amazon

With FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon), you send stock to Amazon's warehouse. Amazon picks, packs, delivers and handles returns.

FBA listings get the Prime badge. That means free two-day delivery in Saudi Arabia and one-day delivery in the UAE, which lifts sales a lot.

On Shopify, delivery is your job. You have three options:

• Ship it yourself through an aggregator such as OTO or Shipox, which connects couriers like SMSA, Aramex, J&T and SPL.
• Use a 3PL, a warehouse that stores, packs and ships your orders for a fee.
• Mix both, with a 3PL in Riyadh and Dubai once volume grows.

A Riyadh to Jeddah parcel costs about SAR 14–22 through an aggregator. Compare 3PLs in our fulfilment provider directory.

6. Ads cost: Amazon for buyers, Shopify for reach

Amazon ads reach people who are already shopping. Shopify ads mostly reach people who weren't looking for you yet.

Here's what sellers and trackers report for Saudi Arabia:

Amazon clicks cost about the same as Google's. But Amazon shoppers have their wallet out, so more of those clicks turn into orders.

Social ads are cheaper per view but slower to sell. They build the brand that makes repeat orders possible.

Amazon also gives new sellers up to SAR 3,500 in Sponsored Products credit on Amazon.sa, or AED 3,700 on Amazon.ae. See our Amazon ads guide for setup.

7. Time to first sale: Amazon

Amazon gets you selling faster. Its identity check usually takes up to three business days, and most sellers with good listings and a small ad budget see first orders within a few weeks.

A Shopify store takes longer to start. Plan two to four weeks to build a small store, get your gateway approved and translate the checkout into Arabic.

After that, sales depend on your ads. Run them from launch day, because a new store gets almost no free traffic in its first months.

Pros and cons of each

Which should you choose?

So where should a new Gulf seller start? Here's my simple rule.

Start on Amazon if you need sales soon. The shoppers, payments and delivery are all there, and the 2026 incentives cut your first fees.

Start on Shopify if you already have an audience. If you have followers on Instagram or TikTok, a Shopify store turns them into customers you own.

Still unsure? Answer seven quick questions and see which platform fits you:

The "do both" path

Most Gulf brands don't pick one. They use Amazon to find customers and Shopify to keep them.

Here's the order that works for most sellers:

1

Launch your best products on Amazon

Start with three to five products on FBA and claim the new-seller ad credit. Learn what sells and at what price.

2

Register your brand

Join Amazon Brand Registry to protect your listings and unlock better ads.

3

Build a small Shopify store

Use your proven Amazon best sellers. Add Arabic, a local gateway and COD with WhatsApp confirmation.

4

Give buyers a reason to come direct

Offer bundles, gift sets and loyalty rewards you can't offer on Amazon.

5

Grow repeat orders

Send WhatsApp and email offers to your Shopify customers before Ramadan, White Friday and National Day.

Our guide to selling on Amazon Middle East walks you through step one.

Notes for Saudi-based sellers

• Use Amazon's local discount. Amazon.sa takes 30% off referral fees for your first 60 days if you're based in and ship from Saudi Arabia. The offer closes on 31 December 2026.
• Consider Salla or Zid instead of Shopify. For a Saudi-only store, they include mada, COD and ZATCA invoicing with no extra fee. Compare them in our Shopify vs Salla vs Zid guide.

Notes for UAE-based companies

• Shopify works best here. You can use Shopify Payments, so there's no extra transaction fee on card orders.
• Run both from day one. Amazon.ae is the UAE's #1 online store by sales, and Shopify is easy to set up locally.
• Selling into Saudi Arabia? Shopify Markets lets you charge Saudi shoppers in SAR, but they can't pay with domestic mada. Our Shopify UAE guide covers the setup.

Notes for Chinese sellers

• Amazon is the easier first step. Amazon Global Selling China offers 2026 incentives, including a USD 50,000 prepaid referral voucher for new brands.
• Shopify needs local partners. You'll need a gateway that takes Saudi cards and a courier or 3PL in the Gulf.
• Plan certification for both. Regulated products need SABER, Saudi Arabia's product certification platform, whichever channel you use. Start with our guide to Amazon Middle East for Chinese sellers.

Notes for US, UK and EU brands

• Add Amazon through Global Selling. You can register without a Gulf company and use an importer of record to clear customs.
• A Shopify store can sell cross-border. Saudi parcels under SAR 1,000 are duty-free, though 15% VAT applies. Shoppers pay by Visa or Mastercard, not domestic mada.
• Go local when sales grow. A Gulf entity or distributor unlocks local gateways, COD and faster delivery.

All our Amazon guides sit in the Amazon Middle East hub.