A Shopify setup package takes 2 to 3 weeks, a launch store 3 to 4 weeks, a custom theme 6 to 8 weeks, and Shopify Plus or headless 10 to 16 weeks. A migration takes 2 to 6 weeks. These are our timelines once content is ready; late content, product data and payment approvals are what slow projects.
You want to launch before a sale, a season or an event, and the first question to any agency is how long. The honest answer is a range, and the biggest part of that range is not the agency. It is how fast you send the photos, the product list and the approvals.
Timeline by tier
These are our own timelines for Shopify store builds in Dubai, from the day we start working with your content in hand to launch day. The prices are ours too, excluding 5% VAT.
| What you are buying | From (AED) | Typical total (AED) | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify setup package (premium theme, one brand) | 3,450 | 3,450 and up | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Shopify launch store | 4,950 | 4,950 to 12,000 | 3 to 4 weeks |
| Custom Shopify theme | 14,500 | 14,500 to 27,500 | 6 to 8 weeks |
| Shopify Plus or headless | 34,500 | 34,500 to 75,000 | 10 to 16 weeks |
| Migration to Shopify (up to about 500 products) | 2,250 | Quoted after audit when larger | 2 to 6 weeks |
These times are not guarantees. They assume you reply within a day or two, content arrives on schedule and nothing unusual turns up. If you need a date, tell us in the first call and we plan backwards from it.
What happens in each week
Here is a typical launch store (3 to 4 weeks). Smaller and larger tiers follow the same order with more or less time in each step.
| Week | What happens | What we need from you |
|---|---|---|
| Before week 1 | Scope, theme choice, plan, payment terms | Brand files, product list, any reference sites |
| Week 1 | Store set up, theme configured, navigation and collections planned | Logo, colours, categories |
| Week 2 | Products loaded, pages built, shipping and tax set | Photos, descriptions, prices, shipping rules |
| Week 3 | Payments, Tabby or Tamara, emails, testing on phones | Gateway documents, approval of the design |
| Week 4 | Fixes, final review, launch, handover | Final sign-off, domain access |
A custom theme adds design rounds, a build phase and more testing, which is why it takes 6 to 8 weeks. Shopify Plus or headless adds integrations, custom features and staging, which is why it takes 10 to 16 weeks. Our Maison Verre design study is an example of the Plus level of scope.
What really delays a Shopify project
In our experience the delays are mostly on the content side. The rest of this section lists them in order of how often they cost time.
1. Content that is not ready
Photos, product descriptions, About text and policies are the number one delay. A store cannot look finished without them. If photography is not done, book it first. It is the long pole in the tent. If you need Arabic, add time for translation and review by a native reader. For the cost of that, read our Arabic website cost guide.
2. Messy product data
A product list with missing prices, duplicate SKUs, inconsistent sizes and no images can take days to clean. A clean spreadsheet with one row per variant saves time. Use one row per variant.
3. Slow approvals
Every design round needs a decision. When approval takes a week instead of a day, the schedule slips by a week. Name one decision maker, not a committee, and agree on how long each review should take.
4. Payment gateway approval
This one surprises owners. Your payment provider needs to verify your business. That usually means trade licence, bank account, owner documents and a description of what you sell. The time it takes depends on the provider and on how complete your documents are, and it can run alongside the build or run longer than the build. Apply as soon as you sign. Tabby and Tamara also review merchants, and their timing is their own. Our guide to Tabby and Tamara on Shopify covers what they ask for.
✓ Gateway approval times are set by each provider and change with their workload and checks. Do not plan a launch date until your provider confirms in writing. Confirm with the provider for your company type.
5. Changes after sign-off
New products, new pages or a different design late in the project move the date. We price changes before doing the work, and we tell you what each one does to the launch date.
6. Integrations and special features
Connecting to an ERP, a delivery partner, a loyalty system or a custom feature adds testing time. These are normal in the Plus tier and rare in the setup package.
How to speed it up
- Send photos, logo and product data before the project starts.
- Apply for your payment gateway on day one.
- Have a single decision maker with authority to approve.
- Fix your launch date, then agree which features are in or out of version one.
- Keep Arabic text final before it is loaded, not after.
- Prepare your shipping rules and return policy early.
A store that launches with 50 good products is better than one that waits to launch with 500 poor ones. You can add the rest after launch.
A realistic example
Take a brand with 60 products that chooses the launch store tier. On day one it sends logo, colours and a product spreadsheet. Photos are finished. It applies for its payment gateway the same week. The build runs for three weeks and the store opens in week four, and then the 30-day fix window starts for anything that does not work as agreed.
Now take the same brand with no photos and a half-filled product list. The build cannot finish until the images arrive. A shoot takes two weeks to book and a week to edit. The launch moves from week four to week seven, with no change in what the agency did. This is an illustration from our own experience of how projects go, not a measured average.
Questions to ask any agency about timing
- What do you need from me, and by which day, to keep the date?
- How many design rounds are included, and how long does each one take?
- When do you start the payment gateway and buy now pay later applications?
- What happens to the date if my content arrives late?
- Is there a staging link I can review before launch?
- What is the plan for the first two weeks after launch?
Ask for the answers in writing, along with a simple schedule that shows your tasks as well as the agency's. A plan that lists only the agency's work hides the part most likely to slip.
A good answer is specific. A vague answer, such as it depends, usually means the schedule has not been thought through.
Migration is different
If you already have a store and are moving to Shopify, the plan is different. The old store keeps selling while we rebuild. The clock is driven by the product count, the redirect map and how much needs to be rebuilt. Our migration work runs 2 to 6 weeks and starts from AED 2,250 for up to about 500 products. Details are in WooCommerce to Shopify in the UAE.
Launch dates that need care
If you are aiming at Ramadan, Eid, the summer sales, White Friday or the Dubai Shopping Festival, work back from the date and leave at least two weeks of slack. A launch in the same week as a big sale leaves no room to fix problems. We would rather push a store back a week than launch it broken.
You can also launch in two steps. Open with the essentials, take orders, then add collections, content and extras while the store is live. For many UAE brands this is the right way to meet a date.
The honest limits
We cannot promise a date when the inputs are outside our control. Photos, approvals and payment gateways belong to you and to third parties. What we can do is show the schedule up front, flag risks early and tell you when a date will slip. If you need a launch in under two weeks, the setup package with ready content is your best chance, and even then it is tight.
For the full cost picture to go with the time, see Shopify store cost in the UAE.
Questions
Our setup package takes 2 to 3 weeks, a launch store 3 to 4 weeks, a custom theme 6 to 8 weeks and Shopify Plus 10 to 16 weeks. This assumes your content and approvals are on time.
Use the setup package with a premium theme, have photos and product data ready, apply for your payment gateway on day one and keep version one small.
Mostly because of content, messy product data, slow approvals and payment gateway approval. These depend on the client side and on third parties more than on the build.
It varies by provider and by how complete your documents are. Ask your provider for an estimate in writing and apply as early as possible.
Our migrations take 2 to 6 weeks depending on product count, data quality and redirects. Pricing starts from AED 2,250 for up to about 500 products, excluding 5% VAT.
Yes. Many brands launch with their best sellers and add the rest after launch. It reduces risk and lets you start learning from real customers.