How to open an online store in Saudi Arabia: a practical guide
From adding and importing products to payments, shipping and tax invoices, these are the steps you need to start selling online to customers in Saudi Arabia.
Opening an online store in Saudi Arabia no longer needs a developer, but it does need clear decisions: what you sell, how customers pay, how orders reach them and how you issue invoices. On Tansik the online store is part of your website itself, so you don't run two separate platforms. This guide goes through the steps in order.
Step one: add your products
Each product has its pictures, description, price and category, and you can reorder products by dragging. If a product has options such as size and colour, each combination has its own SKU, price and stock, and the customer picks the combination on the product page before adding it to the cart.
If you have many products, don't enter them one by one:
- From an Excel or CSV file: download the Tansik template, or upload the products file you exported from Salla, Zid or Shopify. The columns are recognised automatically, and you can match them yourself.
- From a Shopify store link: its published products are read with their prices, options and pictures.
- Update by SKU: upload the file again later to update existing products instead of duplicating them.
Set a low-stock level too, and you get an email and WhatsApp alert when a product, or one of its options, is running out.
Step two: choose how customers pay
The store takes no orders until at least one payment method is on. You can offer:
- Cards, mada and Apple Pay through your own Moyasar account.
- Tabby (pay in 4) and Tamara (pay in 3) on your own accounts.
- Cash on delivery, with an extra fee if you like.
- Bank transfer: the customer sees your bank details after ordering.
The money goes straight to your own accounts. We cover each method in online payments in Saudi Arabia.
Step three: shipping and delivery
In the store settings you set:
- A general shipping fee, or zero for free delivery.
- Free shipping over an amount you choose.
- Shipping zones by city, each with its cities and fee, and you can deliver only to those zones' cities.
- Pickup from your shop, with no shipping fee.
If you have an Aramex or SMSA Express account, connect it to book the parcel from the order page and print its label. The order then follows the carrier's tracking and is marked delivered when the parcel arrives. On cash-on-delivery orders, the amount to collect goes on the shipment.
Step four: VAT and invoices
VAT is 15% by default. Your prices can include it or have it added at checkout, you can add other taxes such as a municipality fee, and you can mark products as tax-free.
If your business is registered for VAT, turn on tax invoices: every paid order gets a simplified tax invoice with the QR code, with Fatoora reporting when you connect it. You can also send confirmed orders to Daftra, Qoyod or Wafeq. Details are in our article on e-invoicing.
Step five: after the order
- Every new order reaches you by email and WhatsApp. Card orders arrive once the payment is confirmed, so unpaid checkouts don't take your attention.
- The customer gets a page for their order showing its status: new, confirmed, shipped, delivered, completed.
- On their first order the customer gets a 5-digit customer code on WhatsApp, which they use to ask the WhatsApp assistant about their orders.
- You refund all or part of an online payment from the order page, through the same payment gateway.
- After delivery the customer gets a link to rate what they bought, and the stars show on your products.
Step six: bring customers back
Once orders are flowing, turn on what brings buyers back: coupons, loyalty points and gift cards, and reminders for people who leave their cart. We explain them in coupons, loyalty and abandoned carts. To show your products in shopping ads, the store gives you product feed links for Google Merchant, Meta, TikTok and Snapchat that update when you change your products.
And if you don't need online payment at all, a product catalogue with WhatsApp ordering may suit you better.
Get started
Create your site, turn on the store on a plan that includes it, add your products and connect at least one payment method. The plans are on the home page, and you can see what Tansik offers stores in solutions for online stores.
Questions
Do I need a commercial registration to open a store on Tansik?
Tansik doesn’t ask for one to open the store, but payment providers such as Moyasar, Tabby and Tamara have their own requirements for opening an account, and tax invoices need your VAT number.
Can I move my products from Salla or Zid?
Yes. Export the products file from your old store and upload it in the product import; its columns are recognised automatically.
Who receives the money from sales?
You do. Payments go to your own Moyasar, Tabby or Tamara account, and bank transfers to your own bank account.
Start your site on Tansik and turn on what you read about from your dashboard.