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This article will show you how to change Shipping settings in Shopify and use a Shopify app to limit locations to which deliveries are permitted.
You'll grab:
Local delivery: A shipping strategy for small business owners
Why you should restrict delivery areas for local delivery service
How to restrict delivery areas by changing Shipping settings in Shopify
How to restrict delivery areas by using a Shopify app
If you are finding an ideal solution to power your business, let’s enjoy the article.
The global pandemic Covid 19 has changed consumer buying habits as well as small business owners’ shipping strategies. According to Shopify’s consumer trends data, it’s easy to witness an increase in online shopping, an appetite for virtual experiences, more adoption of local pickup and delivery methods, and widespread support for small, independent businesses.
Shipping delays and unpredictable shipping costs during the pandemic period make the customer experience worse than ever. Therefore, many buyers find out local businesses for their order delivery. It’s also a way for people to support their neighborhood businesses and maintain their local economy. They desire community more than ever due to the terrible physical distance they suffer throughout the epidemic.
More and more brick-and-mortar businesses and online retailers are switching to a new shipping strategy to generate more sales and foster sustained growth. They connect with customers nearby to build loyal customers and attract new ones. They crave a place for themselves within their community. Data from Shopify indicates that when merchants provide convenient ordering choices like local pickup and local delivery, online buyers spend 23 percent more and have a 25 percent larger cart size, and the conversion rate for online customers who choose local pickup or local delivery instead of shipping at checkout was higher by 13% and 19%, respectively.
The adoption of local delivery has been accelerated by COVID-19, but it is also anticipated to become an e-commerce trend in the future when online retailers can handle delivery independently, have better control over the delivery process, optimize the delivery route, and control shipping costs without relying on shipping carriers.
The most crucial decision you must make before enabling local delivery for your Shopify store is how you will handle logistics for local deliveries, including where will you deliver from and How far will you travel to deliver orders.
Limiting the delivery location helps you avoid being overloaded when there is not enough staff to deliver goods to multiple locations. It also helps you focus on the delivery locations that provide you with the greatest economic benefits such as saving time and shipping costs and being suitable for your products and business strategy.
Additionally, limiting the places that are not allowed for local delivery makes fulfillment easier than ever. You won't have to spend as much time handling invalid deliveries or calling customers to cancel orders, which will negatively affect their experience.
Therefore, it is crucial to verify that the customer's area is qualified for delivery before he completes the purchase confirmation process.
This method is only accessible to Shopify Plus and customers using Shop Pay as their checkout option. If the customer pays using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, or PayPal, then the local delivery option isn't available.
Follow these steps to set up local delivery and limit delivery areas for your online store:
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery.
In the Local delivery section, click Manage next to the location where you want to offer local delivery. If you have several locations, then click Show more to display all your locations
Select This location offers local delivery
4. In the Delivery area section, use one of the following methods to set a delivery area:
Set a delivery radius: Select a unit of measurement and enter the maximum distance between your delivery location and where you want to deliver to. The distance must be less than 160 kilometers or 100 miles. Choose whether to enable Include neighboring states or regions
Use postal codes: Enter a list of postal codes (up to a maximum of 3,000 characters) that you want to deliver to, separated by a comma and a space. To include a group of postal codes, add either an asterisk or a space after the initial characters to indicate a range of postal codes.
5. Examples:
M5V1E3, M5V1K4, M5V3N5, M5V2N3
97392, 97306, 97325, 97352
M5V* and M5V(note the space character) include all postal codes from M5V1A1 to M5V9Z9.
9732* and 9732(note the space character) include all postal codes from 97320to97329
Follow the Shopify guideline to keep your setup on the right track
Even though it only takes a few steps, Shopify's delivery area restriction option can't provide you with the level of customization you want. Especially, you can’t check whether your customer’s area is eligible for delivery or not right on the product page and cart page. It will not be a pleasant experience if they have spent a significant amount of time selecting products and are almost through with their purchase confirmation when they discover that their locations are not permitted to deliver.
Additionally, if you are using the basic Shopify plan, you must pay a significant amount of money to access this function because it is only applicable for Shopify Plus and is available with Shop Pay.
As a result, adopting a Shopify app is a worthwhile alternative. Businesses looking for a full solution for their local delivery in general and delivery validation in particular on a tight budget should strongly consider DingDoong: Delivery + Pickup.
Used directly in Shopify admin, the app allows merchants to check a customer’s delivery eligibility directly on the product page and cart page. If the buyer’s zip code or address is available for delivery, they are proceeded to check out and vice versa.
The app provides merchants with four methods to limit the locations where deliveries are permitted:
You can easily determine which zip codes or addresses are available for delivery on your back end. The customer enters their zip code or address into the storefront widget. If his zipcode or address matches your settings, he is able to proceed further and vice versa
Click here for an interactive demo in-app
Click here to install the app
In addition, the app can assist merchants in setting up a date picker at the storefront and enable buyers to choose their preferred time of delivery. They also configure their different cut-off time for individual days and limit orders per day or time slot to make sure customer satisfaction and avoid overcommitting
The app also includes a built-in calendar as well, making it simple to handle all order requests and monitor shipping deadlines. They are allowed to manage and get order notifications on mobile by syncing data to their personal Google Calendar, or exporting all order data in an excel file to effortlessly filter and sort them out
A complete and powerful local delivery and store pickup solution for Shopify stores with no loading speed effect. Get it now!
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