Delivering across all seven Emirates

Dubai and Sharjah behave like one market — until traffic

They are adjacent, densely populated, and most of your orders will come from them. Same-day is realistic in both.

What is not realistic is ignoring the corridor between them at peak times. A rider doing Dubai and Sharjah in one run needs the route planned around when that road moves, not around distance.

Abu Dhabi is far enough to be its own zone

Roughly ninety minutes from Dubai with clear roads. That means it is a separate delivery run, usually next-day rather than same-day, and priced accordingly.

Al Ain is further again and often worth separating from Abu Dhabi as its own zone rather than absorbing it.

The Northern Emirates are cheaper to serve than people assume

Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah are usually treated as one band. Volume is lower, so a courier is generally more sensible than your own rider.

Fujairah is the outlier — it is across the mountains, and both time and cost are meaningfully higher. Merchants who lump it in with the rest of the Northern Emirates tend to lose money on it quietly.

What this means for your pricing

• Three or four zones, not one flat national rate
• Free delivery thresholds per zone — free above AED 499 in Dubai does not have to mean free in Fujairah
• Different promises per zone — same-day in Dubai, next-day in Abu Dhabi, two days to the Northern Emirates
• Own riders where you have density, a courier where you do not

One rule about promises

Under the UAE e-commerce framework, goods must arrive within the time stated at the point of sale, and a significant delay gives the consumer the right to cancel and be refunded.

So the delivery promise on your product page is a commitment, not marketing. Promise what your slowest zone can actually do, or set the promise per zone. How zones work →