Opening an online shop in Algeria

An Algerian online shop is judged on three mechanisms, not on its appearance: card payment through an approved CIB and Edahabia gateway, a direct connection to carriers to avoid double keying, and how it handles returns on cash on delivery. That third point decides profitability, and it is the one least discussed.

Why leave social media?

Selling through messages works at first, then four limits arrive together: dependence on a platform whose rules and reach you do not control, no usable customer file, time spent answering order by order, and stock that is never in step between the shop and the posts.

None of these is solved by posting more. They are solved by a sales channel you own.

How do you take payment online in Algeria?

Two cards cover the market: CIB, issued by the banks, and Edahabia, issued by Algérie Poste. They are integrated through an approved payment gateway. A shop that accepts only one of them cuts itself off from a large share of customers.

But most of the volume still goes through cash on delivery. Both have to be handled — and above all, what each really costs has to be understood.

Criterion	Online payment	Cash on delivery
Collection	Immediate, at order	Deferred, on handover
Return rate	Very low	High — the critical figure
Cost of a refusal	None	Outbound, return and handling
Cash flow	Available at once	Tied up during delivery
Customer adoption	Growing	Dominant
Trust required	The customer pays first	None

How do you keep the return rate down?

This is what separates a profitable shop from one working for its carriers. A refused parcel costs the outbound leg, the return leg, the handling and the tied-up stock — for no revenue at all.

Three mechanisms bring that rate down, and all three sit in the software:

• Confirmation before dispatch. A call or an automatic message that has the order confirmed before it leaves. Impulse orders filter out there.
• Customer history. A buyer who has already refused several parcels is identifiable, and their order can be made conditional on paying online.
• An unambiguous product page. Real sizes, material, unretouched photographs. Most refusals come from a gap between expectation and parcel.

Should carriers be connected?

Yes, and it is the most immediate time saving. Without a connection, every order is keyed twice: once in the shop, once on the carrier's portal. With one, the waybill is issued automatically and tracking flows back into the order, visible to customer and manager alike.

As volume rises, that is the difference between a full-time post and a daily check.

What about Arabic-speaking customers?

A large share of the Algerian market buys in Arabic. Translating an interface is not enough: Arabic reads right to left, and an interface designed for French then flipped in haste produces broken alignments, mirrored icons and unreadable forms.

Reading direction has to be handled natively from the design stage. It is an architectural choice, not an option added at the end — and it is what separates a second language from a degraded version.

What to require from a supplier

• A requirements document in which every function carries a reference, carried over unchanged into the acceptance test plan. A function is delivered when you accept its test.
• Ownership of the code and export of your data — catalogue, orders, customer file — in common formats, at any time.
• No percentage taken on your sales. Your shop is not a marketplace.
• Hosting in Algeria, for compliance as much as for your visitors' latency.

We delivered a sixteen-module platform meeting these criteria for a ready-to-wear boutique, acceptance signed. The project in detail, and how we run a bespoke development.