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Shipping

To set up your shipping rates you'll need to create your shipping strategy, types, zones and rates. Watch the tutorial video and read the following text to learn more:

Initial Shipping Setup: Learn more about the steps involved with shipping setup. Learn More > 

Shipping Strategies: Learn more about shipping strategies. Learn More >

Shipping Types: Learn more about shipping types. Learn More >

Shipping Zones: Learn more about shipping zones. Learn More >

Shipping Rates: Learn more about shipping rates. Learn More >

Future Ship Dates: Learn more about future ship dates. Learn More >

Easy Ship: Learn more about easy ship tools. Learn More >

Cold Shipping Options: Learn more about the summer shipping alternatives. Learn More >

Video Keypoints: 

  1. 00:30 Add a new shipping strategy
  2. 01:30 Beginning setup on strategy
  3. 01:46 Add new shipping zones
  4. 02:18 Add new shipping types
  5. 06:20 Setting up new shipping rates
  6. 08:15 Managing and editing new types
  7. 08:48 Managing and editing new zones
  8. 09:00 How to use the shipping rate importer
  9. 12:40 How to use the shipping rate exporter
  10. 13:55 Assigning a shipping strategy to a product

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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:

  1. Weight
  2. Number of Units
  3. Price

And you are not limited. If you would like to base rates for one product group on weights, and another on number of units, that’s fine. Later, when you are entering 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 you have setup your first shipping strategy, you will want to setup your shipping types within that shipping strategy. A shipping type is the service level and carrier that you are shipping with.

For the specific Carrier Code required by fulfillment and ShipCompliant, check this page »

Step 3: Set up your Shipping Zones

Once the shipping types have been setup, you will then 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 'east coast' and another called 'west coast'. Each zone by default will have the same shipping types available, but you will be able to enter different rates.

Step 4: Add your Shipping Rates

Once you have setup 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 strategy set up and want to set up a flat rate shipping sale? Click here

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Shipping Best Practices

Free or Flat Rate Shipping

Studies suggest customers want demand free shipping.

  • 61% online shoppers prefer to shop with a retailer that offers free shipping than one that doesn’t. — Forrester Research (2007)
  • 43% 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, marketing professor at the Wharton School even observed that “For whatever reason, a free 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 shipping (technically/legally ‘Shipping Included’ for the wine industry). This may not always be possible, but you could set the promotion up so that you offer free shipping once the consumer reached 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, the next best option is flat rate shipping. Important – don’t hide your flat rate shipping if 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 shipping isn’t free, plus you have removed friction in the buying process.

Now your consumers don’t need to worry about the shipping 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 USA is one flat rate while the Eastern USA is another flat rate)

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