Researchers claim that Arabs have an affinity for high context but low content. However, there is a dearth of studies aimed at understanding the linguistic adaptation required for e-commerce. "Think globally, act locally" is considered key to winning consumer trust in e-commerce. Our exploratory study of 50 prominent e-commerce websites of businesses based in Arab countries has revealed that the majority of sites which offer an Arabic version are literal translations that fail to capture the real meaning or richness of expression and detail of the Arabic language. The proposed research will pursue three goals. First, build a corpus by acquiring the content of selected sites and analyze the corpus qualitatively and quantitatively. Second, gain insights into how online buyers perceive Arabic text and textual metaphors through a controlled experiment using eye tracking, verbal protocol analysis, and questionnaires. Finally, based on the insights gained from the prior two phases, develop and communicate best practices for design firms and Arabic language translators and create a repository of content patterns for Arabic e-commerce websites. The results have implications for both Arabic linguistics research and energy informatics in Qatar. The ultimate objective of the research is to reduce the perceived digital gap in the Arab world and help establish Qatar’s vision of an information economy.