Oman Ecommerce: COD Market Entry for Shopify (2026)

EasySell
2026-04-16T13:23:52+01:00

Oman's ecommerce market is projected to hit $3.26 billion in 2026, up from $2.94 billion the year before. Ecommerce still accounts for only about 1% of total retail sales. Smartphones drive 82.67% of online shopping. And while every merchant expanding in the Gulf is piling into Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Oman sits quietly with 5 million people, real infrastructure, and almost no English-language content helping Shopify merchants enter.

If you're already selling in the UAE or Saudi Arabia, Oman is the next market you should be looking at. The customer acquisition costs are lower, the courier infrastructure works, and COD is still a real payment preference for a big share of buyers. Miss the window, and in three years you'll be paying Gulf-level CPMs to acquire customers here too.

Why Oman Gets Overlooked in GCC Expansion Plans

Five million people. That's the headline reason most merchants skip Oman. Saudi Arabia has 36 million. The UAE has close to 10 million. Oman looks too small to matter.

But the ratio that actually matters isn't total population — it's the gap between where the market is and where it's going. Ecommerce is 1% of retail. Smartphone penetration is high. Mobile broadband works. The underlying demand is there. What's missing is merchant competition. Most international brands haven't bothered localizing for Oman because the Gulf playbook tells them to focus on Riyadh and Dubai first.

That's the opportunity. A market with real infrastructure, real buying power, and a growth curve that's just starting to bend upward — without the saturation that's driving CPMs up 20-30% a year in bigger Gulf markets.

The Infrastructure: Muscat Works, Aramex Just Expanded

If you've shipped into markets with broken addressing like Iraq or rural Egypt, Oman will feel like a different planet. Street addresses work in Muscat, Salalah, Sohar, and the other major cities. Google Maps coverage is reliable. Courier drivers can find the house.

Aramex recently opened a new courier operation facility near Muscat airport — purpose-built as a central hub with modern sorting and processing technology. That matters because it shortens delivery times, increases capacity, and gives you a known remittance cycle for COD cash. Aramex handles full COD collection and last-mile delivery across Oman. Oman Post — the national postal service operating since 1856 — covers the long tail, including secondary cities and rural areas where private couriers don't always reach.

Then there's Dalilee, a GCC-focused last-mile specialist that handles thousands of packages daily and runs 113 PUDO (pick-up/drop-off) points in Oman through a partnership with ONEIC. PUDO is underrated for COD markets — it lets customers collect at a convenient location instead of waiting at home, which cuts failed delivery rates dramatically.

For merchants already shipping from Dubai, Muscat is reachable by ground in 1-2 days. That means you can run Oman as an extension of your UAE operation without setting up a second fulfillment center on day one.

The Payment Mix: COD Still Significant, But Shifting Fast

Here's where Oman gets interesting. COD remains a major payment method, especially for first-time online buyers and older demographics. But digital payments are moving faster than in almost any other GCC market.

Credit and debit cards already account for 43.92% of ecommerce transactions in Oman. Digital wallets are growing at 8.27% CAGR through 2031. Apple Pay launched nationally in 2024, Google Pay in 2025. Mobile wallet usage is growing nearly 15% per year. By the end of 2024, 87% of all transactions had moved to digital channels — and that share keeps climbing.

The infrastructure you'll actually integrate with:

OmanNet — 95% of cards in Oman are OmanNet debit cards. If your payment gateway doesn't accept OmanNet, you're turning away most of the prepaid demand.

Thawani — Oman's leading mobile payment platform and the first company to receive the Central Bank of Oman's fintech license in 2020. Merchants can accept Thawani via QR code or direct integration.

Apple Pay and Google Pay — both now live nationally and growing fast with younger buyers.

Cash on delivery — still the preferred method for a meaningful share of shoppers, particularly outside Muscat and for higher-ticket purchases where buyers want to see the product first.

The right play isn't choosing between COD and digital. It's offering both — COD to capture the trust-sensitive buyers, digital options to capture everyone else. Don't assume you know which mix will convert best. Let the data tell you.

Muscat vs. The Rest of Oman: Two Different Launches

Muscat, Seeb, Sohar, and Salalah account for most of Oman's ecommerce activity and all of the reliable same-day courier infrastructure. These are where you start.

Muscat and the capital area: Same-day or next-day delivery is realistic. Multiple courier options. High digital payment adoption. Younger demographic skews toward prepaid. Launch here first and prove your unit economics before going wider.

Sohar and Salalah: 2-3 day delivery is typical. Fewer courier options. COD preference is stronger. These cities are your Phase 2 — expand after Muscat is stable.

Interior and rural areas: Delivery windows stretch longer, carrier options narrow to Aramex and Oman Post, and COD dominance is highest. Don't launch here cold. Expand into the interior only after you have six months of operating data and a clear handle on your RTO rate.

How to Set Up Your Shopify Order Flow for Oman

COD markets reward checkout simplicity and punish friction. For Oman specifically:

1. Arabic and English, not Arabic or English. Oman is bilingual. Your store should be too. Product pages, order forms, confirmation messages — all in both languages, with RTL layout support for Arabic. Machine-translated Arabic gets noticed and erodes trust.

2. Price in Omani Rial. The OMR is pegged to the US dollar at a high rate (1 OMR ≈ $2.60), so pricing in USD or AED creates real confusion. Display in OMR and handle the conversion behind the scenes.

3. Validate phone numbers at the form level. Omani mobile numbers start with +968 9. Validate the format before submission — most failed COD deliveries trace back to a wrong number. Courier drivers call the customer before delivery, so the number has to be right.

4. Offer both COD and prepaid — with an incentive. A small prepaid discount (5-10%) nudges buyers toward digital while preserving COD as an option. For higher-ticket orders, consider a partial deposit. EasySell supports partial payments on the order form — letting a customer put down, say, 20% upfront and pay the rest on delivery — which filters out non-serious buyers without killing your COD volume.

The Costs You Need to Model Before Launch

Oman looks inexpensive compared to Saudi Arabia until you run the unit economics. A few things to price into your model before you commit:

COD courier fees. Aramex and competitors charge a percentage of the COD amount plus a flat delivery fee. On orders under $25, these fees can eat 10-15% of your margin. Get exact rates from each courier before you set your pricing.

Cash remittance cycles. Aramex and Oman Post remit COD cash on weekly or bi-weekly cycles. If you're paying suppliers upfront, your working capital requirement is real. Model at least 30 days of cash tied up in courier pipelines.

Return rates. Oman has better infrastructure than most COD markets, so expect 10-15% RTO on COD orders once you've optimized — higher in the first few months while you learn the market.

Customs and VAT. Oman charges 5% VAT on most goods. Imports above the de minimis threshold trigger customs duties. If you're fulfilling from outside Oman, understand the thresholds before quoting free shipping.

The GCC Triangle: Why Oman Finishes the Set

If you've already launched in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, adding Oman completes the eastern GCC. Pair it with Jordan on the Levant side and you cover most of the MENA opportunity from a single Dubai fulfillment center. Your Arabic creative works. Your Aramex account covers all three countries. Your brand stays consistent.

Start in Muscat with Arabic + English storefront, OMR pricing, both COD and digital payments, and Aramex as your primary courier. Run 50-100 orders to establish your delivery success rate and average COD collection time. Once Muscat is profitable, extend to Sohar and Salalah. Oman's ecommerce curve is bending up — get positioned before the rest of the Gulf catches on.