01
Imagery discipline
One crop ratio per context, consistent lighting, and a shot list agreed before the photographer arrives. Zoom is fast, detail shots are generous and every image is sized for the device.
Luxury ecommerce website design, for brands that sell on trust and taste.
Heritage houses set the benchmark for what a luxury store feels like. We study what they get right and build it for your brand, on Shopify, with a theme written for you rather than bought.
Custom themeAED 14,500
Plus and headlessAED 34,500+
Timeline6 to 16 weeks
PlatformShopify, custom theme
Luxury ecommerce website design in Dubai costs AED 14,500 for a fully custom Shopify theme in 6 to 8 weeks, and AED 34,500+ for Shopify Plus, headless or bespoke integrations. Prices exclude 5% VAT. The work is restraint: editorial layouts, disciplined imagery, quiet motion, appointments, gifting and fast pages.
Updated · Prices in AED, excluding 5% VAT
- Fixed price in writingScope and AED price agreed before work starts
- You own everythingStore, domain, code and accounts in your name
- 30-day fix windowBugs after launch are fixed at no charge
- Reply in one working dayFrom a senior person, not a form robot
01 · What heritage houses get right
Luxury online is mostly about what is left out.
Look at how the established houses build their sites. The page is quiet. The product is large. There is one idea per screen and a lot of space around it. Nothing shouts a discount. Heritage houses set that benchmark, and the lesson is not to copy their look, which would be dishonest and weak. It is to copy their discipline, then express your own brand with the same confidence.
- One message per screen, generous space, no banner clutter
- The product and the craft carry the page
- Prices and details are calm, never promotional
- Every interaction feels deliberate
02 · Layout and type
Editorial layout and typography with a point of view.
A luxury homepage reads like a magazine spread, not a shelf. We design full-bleed campaign blocks, asymmetric grids and a typographic system built around two typefaces at most: a serif or display face with character for headlines, and a plain, legible text face for product detail. Type sizes are fluid, line lengths controlled and Arabic set in a matching face rather than a fallback.
- A written type scale and spacing system, handed over
- Display face licensed correctly and preloaded for speed
- Arabic typography designed alongside the Latin
03 · Imagery and motion
Discipline in pictures, restraint in movement.
Both are easy to overdo. We set rules early and keep to them.
02
Motion with restraint
Slow fades, gentle parallax and smooth scrolling where they help the eye. No bouncing, no autoplay noise. Motion respects reduced-motion settings.
03
Video where it earns its place
A short loop of leather being stitched can sell more than a paragraph. We compress it hard and never block the page on it.
04
Mobile as the main stage
Most luxury browsing in the UAE starts on a phone. We design the phone experience first, then expand it for desktop.
05
Arabic RTL
A mirrored layout with its own typographic care, so the Arabic store reads as natively luxurious as the English one.
04 · Service
The store is a showroom with a back room.
What separates a luxury store from an expensive-looking one is service built into the journey.
01
Appointment booking
Book a private viewing at your boutique, a video consultation or a fitting. Slots, staff and confirmations are connected to your calendar.
02
Gifting
Gift wrap, handwritten notes, hidden prices on the packing slip and delivery to a recipient with their own date. Built into the cart, not hunted for.
03
Clienteling
Customer records that show past purchases, sizes, preferences and notes, so a sales associate can follow up personally. Typically needs an integration with your CRM or ERP.
04
WhatsApp concierge
A click-to-chat button on product pages that carries the product being viewed, answered by a person, with an automated first reply outside opening hours.
05
Pre-orders and waitlists
Limited editions, notify-me and allocation rules that protect your most loyal customers.
05 · Performance and access
Slow and inaccessible is not luxurious.
A beautiful page that takes six seconds to load fails the brand it was built for. We hold every luxury build to a performance budget, test on mid-range phones and keep third-party scripts under review. Accessibility is part of the same discipline: sufficient contrast, keyboard navigation, readable focus states and meaningful alternative text, so every customer can buy.
- Core Web Vitals targets agreed before design sign-off
- Keyboard and screen reader checks on checkout
- Reduced-motion and high-contrast respected
06 · Design studies
Three directions we have designed to show the range.
Each design study shows how the same principles flex across a different brand.
| Study | Category | Design direction | Technical focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maison Verre | Leather goods | Warm paper tones, serif headlines, quiet craft storytelling | Custom Shopify Plus theme, appointments |
| Oud Atelier | Perfume house | Dark, candlelit palette, bilingual from the start | Arabic RTL, Tabby, gifting and discovery sets |
| Chrono Gulf | Watches and jewellery | Cool, technical, product-led detail | Headless storefront, high-value payment flow |
Open the case studies to see each build in full.
07 · How we work
From brand principles to a live store.
- Weeks 1 to 2
Brand and journey
We read your brand guidelines, map the customer journey and agree what the store will never do.
- Weeks 2 to 4
Design
Home, collection, product, gifting, booking and cart, in English and Arabic, in a clickable prototype.
- Weeks 4 to 7
Build
A custom Shopify theme, with editable sections so your team can compose pages without a developer.
- Week 7 to 8
Integrate and test
Payments, Tabby, appointments, WhatsApp, analytics and a full checkout test across devices.
Who we are not for
A luxury build is not right for everyone.
Some brands are better served by a simpler route first.
01
Budgets below AED 14,500 for a bespoke look
A refined premium theme on our launch tier, from AED 4,950, is the sensible start. Move to custom when the brand has earned it.
02
Brands that want to copy a heritage house
We will not copy another brand. We design from your own product, story and customer.
03
Stores that want motion on every page
Heavy animation slows phones and hides the product. We use movement sparingly.
04
Brands with thin photography
Luxury layouts show every weakness in an image. We can brief photographers, but the images must be strong.
08 · Pricing
Two ways to build a luxury store.
Prices exclude 5% VAT. Above AED 20,000 payment is 30/40/30 across the build.
Custom luxury theme
AED 14,5006 to 8 weeks
A bespoke Shopify storefront.
- Custom design and theme
- Arabic RTL layout
- Editable sections
- Gifting and WhatsApp concierge
- Performance budget
Plus, headless or custom apps
AED 34,500+10 to 16 weeks
For houses with complex operations.
- Checkout customisation
- CRM or ERP clienteling
- Headless storefront option
- Appointment systems
- Dedicated team
Care plans start from AED 395 a month.
Based in Dubai, working remotely
Zelqori is a Dubai-based ecommerce and performance marketing agency.
Zelqori builds ecommerce websites and runs performance marketing for premium brands across Dubai, the rest of the UAE, the GCC and globally. We are based in Dubai and work remotely by design: projects run on Gulf Standard Time over Google Meet, WhatsApp and a shared project channel, and we meet clients in Dubai by appointment.
- Based in DubaiDubai time (GST), replies within one working day
- Remote by designGoogle Meet and WhatsApp, meetings in Dubai by appointment
- Dubai, GCC, globalUAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and beyond
- One teamThe store, the ads and the tracking built by the same people
A store only sells when the right people see it. See our performance marketing →
Design studies
Work that shows how we think.
Stores and systems we designed and engineered to show how we approach a brief like yours.
Maison Verre
A design study of a luxury Shopify Plus theme: editorial collections, a sticky purchase panel and an enquiry form for high-value pieces.
Chrono Gulf
A design study of a headless watch store: a Next.js storefront on Shopify, with specification pages, warranty details and Shopify checkout.
Questions
Answers before you call.
Prices are in AED and exclude 5% VAT.
A fully custom luxury Shopify theme starts at AED 14,500 and takes 6 to 8 weeks. Shopify Plus, headless and custom integrations start at AED 34,500. Prices exclude 5% VAT. Photography, copywriting and licensed fonts are quoted separately where needed.
We will not copy any brand. Established houses set a useful benchmark for restraint, craft and clarity, and we study that discipline closely. Then we design something specific to your brand, which is what makes a luxury store credible.
A premium theme can be a sensible start for a young brand. Luxury customers notice when a store looks like others, and themes carry code you never use. A custom theme gives you control over every detail and a faster page.
Many do, and Shopify Plus suits the scale and customisation involved. For unusual experiences we build headless. We recommend based on your operations, not preference, and will explain when another approach fits better.
Yes. Appointment booking is a standard part of the luxury scope. Clienteling depends on where your customer data lives, so it usually involves an integration with your CRM or ERP, which we scope during discovery.
Yes. We design Arabic alongside English, with mirrored layouts, matched typography and translated checkout, so neither language feels secondary.
It does not have to. We set a performance budget before design starts, compress media carefully and limit third-party code. Motion is used sparingly and never blocks loading.
Our core scope covers design, build and integration. We can brief photographers and copywriters or work with your existing creative team, and we provide a shot list and content structure so assets fit the design.
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Start a project
Let us design the store your brand deserves.
Share your brand and your ambitions. We will reply with a direction, a timeline and a fixed AED quote.