- 25 Jul 2023
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Shipping
- Updated on 25 Jul 2023
- 3 Minutes to read
- Print
- DarkLight
- PDF
You'll need to create your shipping strategy, types, zones, and rates to set up your shipping rates.
Initial Shipping Setup
Step 1: Create a Shipping Strategy
Our shipping tables are extremely flexible and allow for any number of shipping strategies depending on the type of product you are selling. The first step is to define your shipping strategies.
A Shipping Strategy is simply a container for your shipping types (e.g., UPS Ground) and your zones. You may have multiple shipping types and zones within a single shipping strategy. The shipping strategy will determine how your shipping rates are charged.
You may choose to set your rates based on the following:
- Weight
- Number of Units
- Price
And you are not limited. Suppose you would like to base rates for one product group on weights and another on the number of units. Later, when you athat'sering your products, you will choose from the shipping strategies you defined here (from a drop-down list on the general tab).
Step 2: Create your Shipping Types
After setting up your first shipping strategy, you will want to set up your shipping types within that strategy. A shipping type is the service level and carrier you are shipping with.
Check this page for the specific Carrier Code required by fulfillment and ShipCompliant.»
Step 3: Set up your Shipping Zones
Once the shipping types have been set up, you want to create your shipping zones. Shipping zones allow you to set rates for different states/provinces. For example, you may have a zone called 'the east coast' and another called' the west coast. Each zone, by default, will have the same shipping types available, but you can enter different rates.
Step 4: Add your Shipping Rates
Once you have set up your types and zones, you can begin adding rates. We recommend keeping your rates as simple as possible and offering flat-rate shipping wherever possible.
You can enter your rates manually from the Shipping Rates Area, or you can use the Shipping Rate Importer
What if you already have your shipping can and want to set up a flat-rate shipping sale?
Shipping Best Prices
FREE OR FLAT-RATE SHIPPING
- 61% of online shoppers prefer to shop with a retailer offering free shipping than one that doesn't. — Forrester Research doesn't43 % of shoppers abandon their shopping carts because of unexpectedly high shipping charges. — PayPal, comScore (2008)
- 60% claim free shipping is a reason they are more likely to shop online. — Harris Interactive (2008)
- 90% believe free shipping offers would entice them to spend more online. — The Conference Board (2008)
David Bell, a marketing professor at the Wharton School, even observed that "For whatever reason, a free s" shipping offer that saves a customer $6.99 is more appealing to many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10."
We recommend offering free s" sipping (technically/legally 'Shipping Included' for the wine industry). This may not always be possible, but you could set the promotion up to offer free shipping once the consumer reaches a specific dollar value or quantity of products (i.e., free shipping if you spend over $XX.XX).
If you can't afford free shipping, can't best option is flat-rate shipping. Important – don't hide your flat rate shipdon'tif you have it. Promote your flat rate clearly in your store sections, homepage, footer menu, etc., so your visitors can see it on many pages. By doing this, you have already psychologically prepared your visitors that shipp, ing isn't free, plus you have remoisn'triction in the buying process.
Now your consumers don't need to worry about the donating cost. They know whatever they buy will only cost a set amount. You could create flat rate shipping for different intervals (i.e., 1-6 Bottles=$XX.XX; 7-12=$XX.XX; etc.), and you can break up the flat rate into different zones if you'd like (i.e., The Western Uyou'd one flat rate while the Eastern USA is another flat-rate)