Bilingual Shopify Store: How to Build an Arabic and English Store Properly

Short answer: in the UAE, a successful store usually needs Arabic and English together, because shoppers come from many nationalities. The right approach is one store with two languages, each with its own URL (such as /ar and /en) and hreflang tags, content written for each language rather than machine-translated, and a theme that handles RTL and LTR equally well.

Why a bilingual store in the UAE?

The UAE is a multinational market: Emirati and Gulf customers who prefer Arabic, and many residents who shop in English. A single-language store misses a big part of the market. A bilingual store also doubles your chances in Google, since each language has its own keywords and results.

One store or two?

One store with two languages is the right choice for most brands:

Separate stores only make sense when your markets differ a lot in pricing, products and team.

Setting it up in Shopify

1. Add the language: under Settings → Languages, add Arabic or English and publish it.
2. Set the default language: Arabic if your core customers are from the Gulf.
3. Translate content: with Shopify's Translate & Adapt app, or directly in the theme editor.
4. Translate URLs: the handle for each product, collection and page, where it helps SEO.
5. Translate SEO fields: the page title and meta description for every product and collection.
6. Add a language switcher in the header and the mobile menu.

URLs and hreflang

When you add languages in Shopify, each language gets its own URL and hreflang tags are added automatically. That lets Google show the Arabic version to people searching in Arabic and the English version to people searching in English, without treating them as duplicate content.

More in Shopify SEO in Arabic.

The theme: the part that makes the difference

The hard part isn't translation; it's making the same theme work properly in both directions:

• The header and menus mirror in Arabic.
• Sliders and arrows mirror.
• Directional icons mirror; numbers and logos don't.
• Each language gets its own font: a readable Arabic font and a Latin one for English.

We cover this in detail in our Arabic Shopify store guide.

Content: write it, don't just translate it

• Product names: sometimes it's best to keep the brand name and translate only the description.
• Descriptions: write them for each audience. An English reader may need "bakhoor" explained; an Arabic reader won't.
• Banner images: make a version per language instead of English text on the Arabic version.
• Emails and notifications: translate order and shipping email templates.

The language switcher: where and how

• Clearly visible in the header (such as "EN" and "ع").
• Don't auto-redirect visitors by location without a choice. Let them pick, and remember it.
• When they switch, keep them on the same page in the other language, not the homepage.

Common mistakes

1. A complete English version and an incomplete Arabic one, or vice versa.
2. The same URL for both languages with no hreflang.
3. Literal machine translation of descriptions.
4. Forgetting to translate order emails and checkout.
5. A language switcher that sends visitors back to the homepage.

FAQ

Can Shopify run several languages in one store?

Yes. You can add several languages to one store, each with its own URL.

Do I need a paid translation app?

Usually not. Shopify's free Translate & Adapt app is enough to manage translations. What matters is that the theme itself supports RTL.

Which language should be the default?

The one most of your customers use. For most Gulf stores, Arabic.

How much does a bilingual store cost?

At ShopiBuild, every store we build is in Arabic and English, with packages from AED 2,000. See our packages.