Ecommerce in Lebanon: a practical field guide

01

The Lebanese ecommerce reality, in plain terms

Lebanon is not one of those markets you can cookie-cutter onto a global playbook. The currency is dual. The banking system is fragile. The shipping address is often a landmark, not a street number. Cash is still the king of delivery. And yet — online commerce here has grown every year since 2019, because merchants who understood the ground truth kept adapting.

This guide is the shorthand we hand new Lebanese merchants when they ask us the question we hear most: "How do we actually sell online in this country?" It is not exhaustive. It is honest.

02

Currency: lira, dollar, and the rate that moves

Virtually every serious online store in Lebanon shows prices in USD, displays a lira equivalent on checkout, and locks in rates daily against a reliable market reference. Do not let customers guess. A price that changes between browsing and paying is the fastest way to lose the sale and the trust.

• Display USD as the primary price on every product page.
• Show LBP conversion in smaller type at the point of decision.
• Pick one source of truth for your daily rate and stick to it for the day.
• Round LBP prices to clean numbers — never show 4,732,814 LBP.

03

Payments: cash on delivery is still the default

Between 60% and 80% of online orders in Lebanon are cash on delivery. Treat this as the baseline experience, not the edge case. Build your checkout around a fast COD flow — minimum fields, a confirmation SMS, clear delivery window — and add card payments as an optional acceleration for customers who prefer them.

If you accept cards, make sure your provider settles in USD and deposits into an account you actually control. This is not the place to discover that your processor holds funds for 30 days.

04

Delivery: the courier is your second storefront

Your courier is the last human interaction with your brand. Pick the wrong one and every negative delivery experience becomes a review of your store. The three practical tests: Do they handle cash collection cleanly? Do they give you real-time status? Can they deliver to "the landmark next to the old pharmacy on the main road"?

• Use a courier with Lebanon-native dispatch, not just a MENA brand badge.
• Add a free-text field to checkout for landmark and apartment details.
• Confirm every order with an SMS before dispatch. Confirmed orders refuse less.
• Stagger delivery windows — Beirut morning, suburbs afternoon, regions next day.

05

What to stop doing

Stop copy-pasting US-first checkout templates. Stop hiding delivery fees until the last step. Stop requiring a full street address when the customer genuinely does not have one. Stop treating cash on delivery like a lesser payment method. In Lebanon it is the primary method.