How to Start an Online Store in Egypt (2026): Steps and Cost

Starting an online store in Egypt takes six stages: plan (product, customer, price), choose where the store lives (a store builder, WordPress or a marketplace), prepare your products, connect payments and shipping, launch and market, then measure and improve. On a hosted store builder you can open your store the same day without a developer. The slow part is preparing product photos and prices, not the technology.

The short version: the first stage of building an online store is planning, not design. Pick a product, a customer and a margin, then pick where the store lives. If most of your customers are in Egypt and pay cash on delivery, a platform with COD and local couriers already built in is the shortest route. Start small: five to ten products, your first real orders, then grow.

This is the main guide on the Baseet blog for anyone setting up an online store in Egypt. It covers what you need, the stages, where you can build the store, what it costs, and how to tell whether your store is actually working.

What is an online store, and why not just sell on social media?

An online store is a website under your name where a customer can browse, choose, order and pay without waiting for a reply in a chat. That is the difference from an Instagram or Facebook page: the page creates interest, the store closes the sale.

For an Egyptian merchant the benefits are practical:

• Organised orders. Every order has a number and a status, instead of messages scattered across WhatsApp.
• You own your customer data. Phone numbers and order history stay with you, not with a social platform that can lock your account.
• Sales while you sleep. A customer can order at 2 a.m. without anyone answering a message.
• Better ads. A pixel records real purchases, so you know which campaign brings revenue.
• Visibility on Google. Product pages can show up when someone searches for what you sell.

If you already sell on social media and are wondering when to move, read from an Instagram page to an online store in Egypt. If you are still weighing social pages, marketplaces, WhatsApp and your own store against each other, see how to sell online in Egypt: 5 channels compared.

Requirements for opening an online store in Egypt

Before you compare store builders, prepare this list. Most of it has nothing to do with technology:

1. A clear product or service, even if it is just one. Know who you sell it to and at what price.
2. A name and a logo. Easy to say and spell in Arabic and English. A simple logo is fine as long as it reads well on a phone.
3. Photos and a description for every product: clean background, sizes, colours, material and a final price.
4. A payment method. Cash on delivery at minimum, ideally one online option (card or wallet).
5. A shipping method. A courier company or your own rider, with delivery prices per governorate.
6. A written exchange and returns policy. Egyptian shoppers ask about it before ordering.
7. A working phone or WhatsApp number for customer service.
8. The paperwork that fits your size. Whether you need a commercial register and tax card depends on what you sell and how much. The Egyptian Tax Authority has a dedicated e-commerce system page, but do not rely on a blog post here: ask an accountant about your situation before you scale.

If you are opening a store in Saudi Arabia, the rules are different: the Saudi Ministry of Commerce requires e-stores to be authenticated through the Business Platform with a valid commercial register or freelance document. We cover that in online store complaints and verification.

The stages of building an online store

If you are looking for "the first stage of creating an online store", the answer is planning. Here are all the stages in order:

Stage	What you do	You are done when
1. Planning	Choose the product, customer, price and margin	You know your profit per order after shipping and returns
2. Choosing where	Store builder, WordPress, marketplace, or a mix	You have an account and a store link
3. Building	Theme, pages, products, policies	At least five products with complete details
4. Payments and shipping	Turn on COD, a payment gateway and a courier	A test order has been placed and shipped
5. Launch and marketing	Ads, social, WhatsApp, Google	Your first ten orders from real customers
6. Measure and improve	Review your numbers every week	You know which product and which ad make money

If you are still choosing an idea, online store ideas for Egypt includes a one-page feasibility study. The most common mistake is starting at stage three: weeks spent on how the store looks, with no idea what each order earns. Start at stage one. The full maths is in what a cash-on-delivery order really costs you.

Where should you build your store?

"Create a store" means very different things to different people. Some mean a seller account on Noon or Amazon, some mean a Facebook or Instagram shop, and some want a full website under their own name. Here are the options side by side:

Option	Examples	Best for	What you give up
Hosted store builder	Baseet, Wuilt, YouCan, EasyOrders, Salla, Zid, Shopify	Anyone who wants a complete branded store without a developer	You work within the platform's features and subscription
WordPress + WooCommerce on hosting	Hostinger or any other host	Someone with technical help who wants full control	Hosting, updates and security are on you
Marketplace	Noon, Amazon, Etsy for handmade goods	Reaching existing shoppers	A commission on every sale; the customer belongs to the marketplace
Social media	Facebook shop, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp catalogue	Testing whether a product sells	No real store; orders are handled by hand
Free blog tools	Blogger or Google Sites	A school project or a quick test	No real checkout, shipping or order management

Many merchants use a mix: one main store under their name, social media for ads, and sometimes a marketplace as an extra channel. If you want your products to appear in Google's shopping results, Google Merchant Center lets you upload your catalogue, with free listings alongside paid ads. We explain marketplace connections in syncing your store with marketplaces in Egypt.

A WhatsApp store

Many Egyptian merchants sell only on WhatsApp. It works at the start, but orders get lost as volume grows. The better setup is to keep WhatsApp as the conversation channel connected to the store: the customer orders on the store, and the confirmation and shipping updates reach them on WhatsApp automatically.

An all-in-one store or a multi-vendor marketplace?

An all-in-one store means products, payments, shipping and order management in one place. That is what most merchants need. A multi-vendor marketplace, where other sellers list products on your site, is a different kind of project: it needs commissions and seller accounts, and usually custom development or a platform built for exactly that.

The steps on a store builder, briefly

These are the steps in brief on any hosted platform; the full walkthrough, with a checklist for each step, is in how to create an online store: 10 steps:

1. Open an account with your email and phone number.
2. Choose a theme close to your category (fashion, food, electronics and so on).
3. Add your products: photos, prices and sizes, or import them from an Excel sheet if you have many.
4. Turn on payments: cash on delivery plus an online gateway.
5. Turn on shipping: connect a courier and set governorate prices.
6. Write the basic pages: about us, exchanges and returns, contact.
7. Place a test order from your phone and follow it until it ships.
8. Share the store link in your bio, your ads and on WhatsApp.

For the details of choosing a theme and design approach, online store design in Egypt: 4 options compared goes deeper.

Building a store with AI

AI tools now help with parts of the job: writing product descriptions, suggesting titles and answering common customer questions. But AI does not build a profitable store on its own. You still need the right product, the right price and shipping that works. Use it to save writing time, and read every word before you publish.

What an online store costs, briefly

Costs fall into four buckets: the platform or hosting, online payment fees, shipping and marketing. Some published numbers:

• Payment gateway fees. Paymob lists on its pricing page a standard rate of 2.75% + EGP 3 per transaction, with no monthly fee.
• Platform subscription. Baseet's website lists a free tier to start with no credit card, and one paid plan at EGP 500 a month or EGP 4,999 a year for unlimited orders and every feature, with no per-order commission.
• Shipping. Prices vary by courier, governorate and parcel weight, so ask more than one company for a quote. Our guide to e-commerce shipping in Egypt walks through the comparison.

The full line-by-line breakdown, with a worked example, is in online store cost in Egypt. If you want to start without paying, read free online store in Egypt: what is really free.

How Baseet helps you build your store

Baseet is a store builder made for the Egyptian and Arab market. Everything below is taken from the Baseet homepage, without embellishment:

• Your store in four steps: create your account (email and phone number), choose a design, add products or import them from Excel, and launch. The site says the whole process takes under 15 minutes.
• Category themes with native Arabic right-to-left support: Brick for fashion, Nova for grocery and food, Classic for general retail, Orbit for electronics.
• Payments: cash, Fawry, Paymob and Tabby, and other Baseet pages also list Vodafone Cash and Tamara depending on the country.
• Shipping: Bosta, Mylerz, J&T and others. Book the shipment, print the waybill and track it from the dashboard.
• WhatsApp automation: order confirmation, shipping status and abandoned-cart recovery.
• Marketing: coupons, loyalty points, referrals, Facebook, TikTok, Snap and Google pixels, and a built-in blog with an SEO-ready structure.
• Your store address: your own domain, or an address such as mystore.baseet.cc.

How to tell whether your store is working

Do not judge it by follower counts or by how the homepage looks. Track these numbers every week:

• Conversion rate. If few visitors order, review the product page, the price and the shipping fee.
• Confirmation and delivery rate. With cash on delivery, an order that is never received is a loss.
• Profit per order after every cost, not the selling price.
• Repeat customers. The cheapest growth there is.

Related guides: Online Store Return Policy in Egypt: Law, Template, Steps · Product Photography With a Phone: Online Store Guide · Domain Name for an Online Store: Choose and Register It

FAQ

Is an online store profitable?

It can be, but profit comes from the product, the price and the operations, not from the store itself. Work out your profit per order after shipping, returns and ad spend before you spend on anything else. If that number is positive and there is demand, the store scales what already works.

What is the first stage of building an online store?

Planning. Decide what you will sell, to whom, at what price, and what you will earn per order. Then come choosing a platform, building, payments and shipping, launch, and improvement.

Do I need a commercial register to open an online store in Egypt?

It depends on the form and size of your business, so ask an accountant. The Egyptian Tax Authority has a page on its e-commerce system and registration guidance. Many merchants start with a small test and formalise their status once real growth arrives.

Should I build my own store or sell on Noon and Amazon?

They are not substitutes. A marketplace such as Noon or Amazon gives you ready traffic in exchange for a commission, and the customer remains theirs. Your own store keeps the brand and the customer relationship with you. Many merchants start with their own store and add marketplaces as a second channel.

Can I build an online store without a developer?

Yes. Hosted store builders are designed so the merchant can do everything: the theme, products, payments and shipping. You only need a developer for something very custom that platforms cannot do.

I want to start an online store but have no experience. Where do I begin?

Start with one or two products, work out your profit per order, then open a store on a platform with a free tier to test. Place a test order yourself, then send the link to the first 20 customers you know. What you learn from your first ten orders is worth more than any course.

How long does it take to launch?

On a hosted platform it can go live the same day if your photos and prices are ready. What really takes time is preparing product photos and descriptions and following your first test order until it reaches the customer.

Written by Sara Mahmoud, E-commerce Strategist at Baseet. Last updated: 6 October 2026.

Ready to start? Open your store on Baseet for free and place your first test order today.