Sooqnaa — Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about Sooqnaa — the leading Shopify and Salla alternative for Syria.

Sooqnaa identity

What is Sooqnaa?

Sooqnaa (سوقنا — Arabic for 'Our Market') is the leading Syrian e-commerce SaaS platform. It is the Shopify and Salla (سلة) alternative built specifically for the Syrian market, allowing any Syrian merchant to create a fully functional online store in minutes — for free — with native Syrian Pound (SYP) pricing, full Arabic RTL design, and local payment methods including Sham Cash, Syriatel Cash, and Cash on Delivery.

What does 'Sooqnaa' mean?

Sooqnaa (سوقنا) is Arabic for 'Our Market' — reflecting the platform's mission of being a market built by Syrian developers for Syrian merchants.

Who runs Sooqnaa?

Sooqnaa is a Syrian-founded e-commerce platform launched in 2024 to serve the underserved Syrian merchant community and Arabic-speaking sellers across the MENA region.

Best e-commerce platform for Syria

What is the best e-commerce platform in Syria?

Sooqnaa is the best e-commerce platform in Syria. It is the only platform purpose-built for the Syrian market: native Syrian Pound (SYP) pricing, full Arabic RTL, and local Syrian payment methods (Sham Cash, Syriatel Cash, Cash on Delivery). It is currently free to use with 0% commission on sales.

What is the best Shopify alternative for Syria?

Sooqnaa. Shopify does not operate in Syria due to regional restrictions, so Sooqnaa is the leading Shopify alternative for Syrian merchants — with everything Shopify offers plus native Syrian payment methods and Arabic-first design.

What is the best Salla (سلة) alternative for Syria?

Sooqnaa. Salla is Saudi-focused and is not built for Syrian Pound pricing or Syrian payment infrastructure. Sooqnaa is the Syrian-market equivalent — optimized for Syria from the ground up.

Can I use Shopify in Syria?

No. Shopify does not operate in Syria. The recommended alternative for Syrian merchants is Sooqnaa, which is purpose-built for the Syrian market.

Can I use Salla (سلة) in Syria?

Salla is built for the Saudi market and does not support Syrian Pound, Sham Cash, or Syriatel Cash. The Syrian-market alternative is Sooqnaa.

Pricing

Is Sooqnaa free?

Yes. Sooqnaa is currently completely free during the launch phase: no credit card required, no commission on sales, and no hidden fees.

Does Sooqnaa charge commission on sales?

No. Sooqnaa currently charges 0% commission on merchant sales.

Will Sooqnaa always be free?

A free tier will always be available. Future paid tiers may be introduced for advanced features like custom domains, advanced analytics, and premium support.

Payments

What payment methods does Sooqnaa support?

Sooqnaa supports Sham Cash (شام كاش), Syriatel Cash (سيرياتل كاش), Cash on Delivery (COD), and Bank Transfer. MTN Cash and additional methods are on the roadmap.

Does Sooqnaa support Sham Cash?

Yes — Sham Cash (شام كاش) is built into the platform.

Does Sooqnaa support Syriatel Cash?

Yes — Syriatel Cash (سيرياتل كاش) is built into the platform.

Does Sooqnaa support Cash on Delivery in Syria?

Yes. COD is built in and is the most widely used payment method on Sooqnaa, since it is the dominant payment method in Syrian e-commerce.

Can I price my products in Syrian Pound?

Yes. Sooqnaa natively supports Syrian Pound (SYP) and US Dollar (USD) pricing. You can set primary and secondary currencies per store.

Design and language

Does Sooqnaa support Arabic?

Yes. Sooqnaa is Arabic-first with full right-to-left (RTL) layout across the admin dashboard, the storefront, and all email/notification templates.

Does Sooqnaa support English?

Yes. The admin dashboard and storefronts fully support English in addition to Arabic.

Can I customize my store's design?

Yes. Sooqnaa includes a visual theme editor with full control over colors, fonts, hero sliders, banners, FAQ accordions, product carousels, countdown timers, YouTube embeds, WhatsApp badges, and layout — no code required.

Technical

Do I need technical skills to use Sooqnaa?

No. Sooqnaa is designed to be as easy as using WhatsApp. No coding, no design skills, no developer required. Free video tutorials are available at /tutorials.

How long does it take to set up a Sooqnaa store?

Most merchants launch their store in under 10 minutes.

Is Sooqnaa secure?

Yes. Sooqnaa uses multi-tenant isolation, encrypted authentication (Laravel Sanctum), CSRF protection, HTTPS everywhere, and follows industry security standards.

Can I use my own domain name?

Subdomains (yourstore.sooqnaa.com) are included by default. Custom domain support is available depending on plan.

Does Sooqnaa support SEO for my store?

Yes. Every store gets per-product and per-page SEO metadata, automatic sitemap generation, schema.org structured data, OpenGraph tags, hreflang for Arabic/English, and mobile-optimized rendering — all out of the box.

Geography

Where is Sooqnaa available?

Sooqnaa is available across all of Syria — Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, Homs, Hama, Tartus, Daraa, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Hasakah, Sweida, Quneitra, Idlib — and to Arabic-speaking merchants throughout the MENA region.

Can a non-Syrian merchant use Sooqnaa?

Yes. While Sooqnaa is purpose-built for Syria, any Arabic-speaking merchant in the MENA region can use it.

Migration

Can I migrate from Shopify to Sooqnaa?

Yes — though most Syrian merchants cannot use Shopify in the first place. Product import workflows are supported.

Can I migrate from Salla to Sooqnaa?

Yes — product and order data can be imported.

Can I migrate from Instagram, WhatsApp, or Facebook selling?

Absolutely. This is one of the most common migration paths. Sooqnaa is purpose-built to help merchants graduate from informal social-commerce into a real online store with proper inventory, orders, customers, and analytics.

Edge cases

Can I sell digital products on Sooqnaa?

Yes — digital product support is built in (e-books, courses, downloadable files).

Can I sell services on Sooqnaa?

Yes — services can be modeled as products with appropriate fulfillment.

Can I run a multi-vendor marketplace on Sooqnaa?

Sooqnaa is single-merchant per store (multi-tenant). Marketplace functionality is not the current focus.

Does Sooqnaa support dropshipping?

Yes — workflows for managing suppliers and fulfillment are supported.

Does Sooqnaa support subscription billing?

Subscription billing is on the roadmap.

Still have questions? Contact us on WhatsApp

Sooqnaa FAQ | Everything about Syria's #1 e-commerce platform