Does Shopify handle Arabic well?
Yes, and better than before. On 2 October 2026, Shopify announced improved support for three right-to-left languages, Arabic, Urdu and Hebrew, “in both Admin and Storefronts, including checkout, customer accounts and the Horizon family of themes” (Shopify Changelog).
Once you publish a language, checkout and email notifications show in the customer’s language (Shopify Help Center).
How do you turn on Arabic?
- In your admin, open Settings > Languages and add Arabic.
- Translate your content (see below), then publish the language.
- If Arabic is your main language, write your product pages, pages and menus in Arabic directly.
- Test the store and checkout in Arabic on a phone, from the first page to the order.
Which theme should you choose?
One that handles right-to-left properly: menus, arrows, carousels and icons should flip, not just the text. Shopify names the Horizon family of themes in its announcement. For any other theme, check its documentation before buying, then check on the demo:
- the product page and its images,
- the cart and cart drawer,
- prices and numbers,
- the footer and forms.
Translate or write in Arabic?
To translate an existing store, Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app translates content manually or with Shopify’s AI translations; you can also import CSV files or use a translation app (Shopify Help Center). Have a native speaker review it: literal translations read badly.
Writing in Arabic from the start usually reads more naturally, especially for a store built for Arabic-speaking buyers.
Decide early:
- Standard Arabic or dialect. Standard is understood everywhere; a dialect can speak better to a local audience.
- Digits. Latin (1, 2, 3) or Eastern Arabic (١، ٢، ٣): pick one and stay consistent. In North Africa, Latin digits are the norm.
- Currency. “DA” or “د.ج”, always in the same place relative to the price.
- Fonts. An Arabic font that reads well on phones, such as Cairo or Tajawal.
How do you build an Arabic store with AI?
EverCore’s store builder writes a full store (homepage and product page) in any language, including Arabic with a right-to-left layout, from a product in your catalogue or an AliExpress link. You choose the audience, angle and tone, and review everything before it goes live. It’s part of the Pro plan ($14.99 a month after a 5-day free trial). The general process is in How to build a Shopify store with AI.
To test a product before building the store, AI landing pages can be written in Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian, Egyptian, Gulf or Standard Arabic, for 30 credits ($3) a page.
Either way, read the text as your buyer would: the claims, the prices, and the tone of the dialect you chose.
What about cash on delivery in Arabic?
EverCore’s free COD Form supports Arabic and right-to-left layouts, with the Cairo font, and Algerian wilaya lists come preloaded. Your buyers order in their language, from the product page.