When you’re selling physical goods online, one of the most critical aspects to consider is how your products will reach your customers. That’s where shipping zones and methods come into play.
You can define where you are shipping, how much it will cost, and under what conditions. By configuring shipping zones and methods, you’re providing clarity and setting expectations for delivery, which is crucial for customer satisfaction and trust.
This setup enables you to scale your business gradually, starting with specific countries (or states) and expanding as you grow.
How to Configure a Shipping Zone
To begin configuring your shipping zones and methods, navigate to Site Admin > Settings > Shipping from the left-side menu. This will take you to the Shipping page.
For now, let’s focus on creating a new shipping zone with shipping methods. To do that, click on the Add New button, which opens a new page.
On the shipping page, fill in these fields:
- Name: Provide a name for your new shipping zone. This name is for your reference only and helps you organize your shipping zones as needed.
- Locations: Use this field to select one or more countries or states for this zone. You can pick a country from the drop-down menu or start typing the country to get a quick match. The selected countries will appear as chips underneath the field. Add as many countries as you wish.
To confirm the new zone, press Save.
How to Configure Shipping Methods
Once you’ve defined your shipping zone, it’s time to set up how you’ll ship to these locations. Click on the Add New button for Shipping Methods, which will open a pop-up.
You have two options to choose from:
Flat Rate
A flat shipping rate lets you define a fixed rate regardless of the order amount or item size and weight. Here are the steps to setting it up:
- In the pop-up, enter a name in the Checkout Label field for the shipping method. This label will be visible to your customers at checkout, so ensure it’s clear and comprehensible. Let’s use Express Delivery as an example.
- Next, choose Flat rate from the Type drop-down menu.
- In the Cost field, specify the amount that you’ll charge for shipping.
- Click on the Charge Tax checkbox if tax should be applied.
- Click on Enable Free Shipping for Orders Above a Certain Amount if you want to offer conditional free shipping above a certain order amount.
- In the Minimum Order Amount, set the minimum order amount for free shipping.
- From the Status drop-down menu, choose whether the shipping method will be Enabled or Disabled.
- After configuring the details, click on Confirm to save your shipping method.
Local Pickup
Local pickup allows your customers to collect their orders from your physical store. Its setup follows a similar process to the Flat Rate setup.
- Set the Checkout Label that clients will see on their checkout pages. Make sure the name is descriptive. In our example, we’ve set the name to Pick Up in Store.
- From the Type drop-down menu, choose Local Pickup.
- Open the Status drop-down menu, and select Enabled or Disabled for the new shipping method.
- Click on Confirm to save your shipping method.
Shipping Zones on Storefront
When customers go through the checkout process on your storefront, they will be able to submit a shipping address only for the countries or states for which you have set up a shipping zone with an active shipping method. This ensures that customers cannot select a country or state to which you do not ship your products.
