Is cash on delivery still necessary in the Gulf?

Less than it was and not gone. Card and wallet payment now dominate in the UAE, while cash on delivery remains a meaningful share in parts of the region and for first-time buyers everywhere.

What decides it

The cost of offering it is failed deliveries and cash handling; the cost of not offering it is losing customers who have not bought from you before. Many stores resolve it by offering it above a trust threshold rather than universally.

The part that gets skipped

Phone-first is not a trend here, it is the default. A store that works badly on a phone works badly.

Delivery expectations in the UAE are set by same-day services, and a store shipping in five days is judged against that.

Cash on delivery is still expected in parts of the region, and it changes the economics: a refused delivery costs the shipping both ways and the stock is back with you.

Where an app fits

Both of TicApp’s most-used builds are bilingual and priced in AED, with the layout rebuilt for right-to-left rather than mirrored.