PROJECT PLANNING GUIDE · Saudi Services AI

Is custom ecommerce the right Shopify alternative?

Choose a store around how your business sells and operates. Custom development offers control, while a hosted platform provides established tools. Compare the complete operating requirements before moving.

Prepare your website brief

Compare the buying and management journeys

List the steps from category browsing to order confirmation, then the daily tasks for your staff: changing prices, stock, delivery options and refunds. Specify Arabic and English requirements, variants and product search. Shopify may suit standard retail workflows; custom development may fit a genuinely different catalogue, quotation flow or integration. Identify the limitation you need to solve rather than replacing a platform for its name.

Scope Saudi payment requirements

If customers need Mada or other local payment methods, verify support with the selected gateway and merchant account. Agree responsibility for provider onboarding and test successful, declined and cancelled payments, confirmation messages and order reconciliation. Mentioning a payment logo in a design does not mean an integration is live. Payment approval and complex checkout development are separate dependencies from a five-day brochure website.

Compare total operating costs

Include initial development, hosting, support, content management, gateway processing and any platform or app charges. Shopify documents additional transaction fees in some circumstances, depending on the payment method and plan; check the current terms for your setup. Custom development also needs maintenance and provider fees. Ask for an itemised proposal instead of assuming custom code eliminates recurring costs.

More details

Protect catalogue and search continuity

Before migration, inventory products, variants, images, old URLs and the approved data to move. Map valuable old destinations to corresponding new pages, preserve useful product information and check internal links. Define how stock and orders are handled during the switch. Test a small representative catalogue first so missing variants, incorrect images and broken checkout paths are found before launch.

Agree ownership, editing and support

A custom store needs a clear way for the business to maintain its catalogue and handle orders. Define source-code and account ownership, updates, backup responsibilities and a support process. Request a working demonstration of the agreed customer and operator journeys. Our custom ecommerce work is scoped separately from the five-day company website offer; share your catalogue and current store to plan the suitable build.

Bring these details to the project discussion

Current store and valuable URLs
Product, variant and stock inventory
Arabic and English content requirements
Merchant account and payment requirements
Daily catalogue and order-management tasks
Migration, maintenance and cost scope