Setting Shopify shipping costs incorrectly is one of the reasons for the customer’s cart abandonment. It is therefore important to set these fees well in order to have a better conversion rate or to increase the shopping cart. How do I set up Shopify shipping costs? There are several ways to attract a customer to your site through shipping costs. In this article, we will see how you can set up shipping costs for the different delivery methods that exist.
Shopify Shipping: Some Things to Understand
Before we talk about setting up Shopify shipping costs, we’re going to start with a few things to understand.
Delivery method
This is how you will ship the purchases they make on your site to the customer.
Shipping costs
This is how much shipping will cost by the chosen delivery method. These are the fees you charge the customer alongside the cost of the products they order. Shopify shipping costs are added to the customer’s order at checkout. For example, for standard shipping costs, you may have two different shipping methods. So you have a standard rate, but that will apply to these two different methods. The fees will therefore vary depending on the shipping method.
There is also this flat-rate approach where we are based on the price or weight of the product. Also, in the strategy of some companies, there is the order threshold from which shipping becomes free. When setting shipping rates, you can also specify any limits on available shipping methods. It is also necessary to take into account what is contained in the customer’s basket.
Delivery area
When it comes to a delivery area, when it comes to Shopify shipping costs, it’s the area the buyer is in. This is the place where the shipment of the package will be made. You will apply depending on the area, the delivery method with the fees. In summary, the mode has to do with the way the delivery is made and its amount. The same applies to the zone or country in which the sale is authorized.
Setting up Shopify shipping costs: The prerequisite steps
Here are a few things to consider when setting up Shopify shipping costs.
Define shipping zones
To set up Shopify shipping, you’ll need to set up shipping zones. These zones correspond to the countries where you agree to make the delivery of your products. It is possible to ship to your country only, France for example. So you create only one zone that contains a single country. You also have the opportunity to expand your business abroad, creating multiple zones. Each containing one or more countries. These areas can be found in the shipping settings.
When you click Setting in the Shopify admin interface at the bottom left, you’ll be taken to the general setting area. There, you’ll have a large selection of different options for setting up Shopify shipping costs. So, you go to the shipping settings and click on shipping. In the corresponding part (Zone name), you will add the zones. These areas allow you to offer different shipping costs for each of them.
Set up shipping costs
Here are the different options available to you for setting shipping costs on Shopify.
Flat Shopify shipping costs
Shopify shipping costs are specific shipping amounts. You will therefore impose them on a customer given his order. Estimate that you want to charge € 5.90 for shipping as soon as a customer makes an order, so you will set a fixed shipping rate of € 5.90. Fixed shipping rates allow you to control the amount taken from the customer at the time they make the payment.
- Rates charged according to price
Pricing rates allow for lower order amounts and higher ones for fixed Shopify shipping. Let’s say you want to charge different amounts for orders below and above €51. Using price-based rates, you can set a shipping rate of €3 for orders that will be below €51. Then, you a shipping rate of 8 € for orders that are above 51 €.
- Rates charged according to weight
As for the weight, you will be able to set a minimum and maximum limit for fixed shipping costs. This allows you to offer to offer shipping costs on the basis of a certain total weight of the products in an order. For example, let’s say you want to charge different amounts for orders below and above 5 kg. Using rates based on weight, you can set an amount of € 5.90 for orders below 5 kg. Then, a shipping rate of 12 € for orders above 5 kg.
Shopify Free Shipping
Each fixed shipping rate can be converted to free shipping when you set the shipping costs to €0. For example, if you want to offer free shipping on all orders placed on your store, you can create a fixed shipping rate and the cost of which is 0 €. On the other hand, if you only want to offer free shipping for orders over €51, you will set a fixed rate of €0 starting from the price for orders over €51.
Shopify Shipping
These Shopify shipping costs are for shipping costs offered by carriers or third-party apps that you install on your store. When a customer accesses the checkout page, the carrier or app you added will receive the customer’s cart information. In return, they send you what you need to pick up for shipping. The shipping costs set by the carrier allow you to communicate exactly the shipping cost of the order to the customer.
- Shipping costs established by carriers
Depending on which Shopify subscription part you’ve chosen, you have the option to add carriers to your shipping settings. Carriers for their part will take into account certain parameters to define the shipping costs to be charged:
- weight of the shipment
- requested delivery time
- place of shipment
- place of shipment
- amount of the shipment
- package size
Local Shopify Shipping
On-site pickup is possible for customers who are not far from your business.
- Pick-up on site
You have the option to allow your customers to pick up their order at your company. They will be able to refrain from paying the shipping costs. In return, you will be able to optimize their shopping experience in this way. There are techniques to make it possible for your customers to pick up goods free of charge without them having to travel. The first option is to go to the settings of “Carriers”, Create a new carrier and put the name. For example, you can put “Pick up on the spot”. Inform customers of your availability or opening hours in the “Information” field.
Determine your delivery strategy
There are three main strategies about Shopify shipping. Your strategy may evolve as your business grows. You will still have to find a balance between each delivery strategy you choose.
- Free shipping method: This option greatly promotes the increase in the conversion rate. As a start-up company, to attract customers, you can offer free shipping. To do this, you determine the shipping costs of your product and then add it to the price of your product. Another way to do this is to offer free shipping for purchases above a certain price.
- Paid delivery method: You can charge shipping costs when orders are below a certain amount.
- Paid delivery method offered above a certain amount: You can adopt this strategy when you have a store that starts to run well. From a certain purchase amount, the customer has the shipping costs which are totally offered.
For example, some stores have a strategy of charging Shopify shipping when orders are below or above a certain amount. Other companies offer delivery.
Shopify shipping costs: How do you set them up on your store?
There are various strategies for Shopify shipping. Here we will take the example of three delivery methods for you to see how to go about it.
Free shipping method
To set up Shopify shipping costs, go to your store in the admin. You will see at the bottom “Settings”. Click on this, then on “Shipping”. In this window, you click on “Add shipping zone”. Fill in the corresponding field: Zone name (you can choose France, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc.) and add it to yourself. After that you have two options:
- Set the method of transport based on the price
- Fix the method of transport based on weight
To set up the free shipping method based on price, you click on “Price based rates”. You name this field which corresponds to the name of the delivery method that will be displayed on the payment page. For example, you can put “Free Shipping”. As for the “Range” part, put the range in which you want your prices to be free. To do this, you will fill in the box of “Minimum order price (maybe 0 €) and that of Maximum order price (maybe No limit)”.
Then you check the small box of “Free shipping rate”, and then you save. To set up the free shipping method based on weight, you follow the same process. At the level of the “Range” part, you can put in the box of “Minimum order weight (maybe 0 kg) and in that of Maximum order weight (maybe 25 kg)”. Don’t forget to back up the data you enter. In general, you do not need to set up both methods. One time is enough to get there.
Paid delivery method
To set up the paid shipping method for Shopify shipping, you’ll add a new zone. Once you have chosen the country, in the “Price based rates” field, you will click on Add rate. As with free shipping, you also name the field. For example, you can put “Paid Delivery”. Next, you will set the amount on which you want this delivery method to be paid. You can choose paid delivery for all products on your site. In “Rate amount”, you put the amount (maybe 5.90 euros) for all deliveries. Save your choice and you will have the paid delivery on your site. Follow the same process to set up the free shipping method based on weight.
Paid and free shipping method above a certain amount
This is the delivery offered above a certain amount. Again, you choose a new zone. In the next box, you will name “Paid Delivery” (this is just an example). Next, you set the maximum amount from which you want the delivery to be paid (perhaps for products below €50). At the level of the “Range” part, you can put in the box of “Minimum order price (0 €) and in that of Maximum order price (50 €)”. So, in “Rate amount”, you will put € 5.90 for shipping costs.
After that, you will add yet another rate. So you’ll name it “Free Shipping” and set the minimum amount from which you want shipping to be free. In the box ”Minimum order price,’ you can put 50 €. 51 € will be mentioned in that of Maximum order price (No limit)”. At this level, don’t forget to check the Free shipping rate box and then you save. So, for the rules of this delivery method, the customer will see that from 0 to 50 €, he pays 5.90 € for shipping costs. Above 51 €, it benefits from free delivery. Then you back up your data. After that, you need to check on the site that everything is working well.
Shopify shipping costs are a kind of sore point for many e-merchants. We hope that this article will be of great help to you in mastering the configuration of shipping costs for your store.
