eCommerce has been witnessing several technology breakthroughs lately. And while there are several eCommerce platforms that have contributed heavily to these breakthroughs, WooCommerce has managed to excel based on its range of exceptional features and goodies
Now, within this range, WooThemes has been making many heads turn. While there are several merchants resorting to WooThemes to have a powerful online store, there are many doubts that arise in regards to how they can effectively implement the shipping methods. This guide is intended to help such folks in understanding the whole process with in-depth insights.
We have divided this guide in terms of different core shipping options and explained how each of them can be implemented. These options include:
- International Delivery
- Local Delivery
- Flat Rate Shipping
- Local Pickup
- Free Shipping
Let’s take a detailed look at each of these options:
International Delivery
This method, in its core, is based on the Flat Rate Shipping model. This proves to be very helpful since you can now structure a standard rate for every type, be it per order, or per item or or even per shipping class. Here is the picture of the settings page you can find the WooCommerce admin panel > Settings> Shipping > International Delivery.
Here is How You Can Make the Configurational Changes
- Enable/Disable – The box should be checked for enabling the International Delivery.
- Method Title – The title will be able to figure out which method to choose if it has a proper title.
- The availability – Here, you can select some countries or deselect some.
- Tax Status – Here, you can define if the tax has been imposed on shipping amount.
- Cost Added – As iterated earlier, this is defined in terms of ‘Per order’, ‘per item’ or ‘per class’.
- Cost, Handling and Minimum Handling – You may or may not enter the amounts pertaining to the respective options.
Local Delivery
This shipping method comes into action when the products have to be delivered locally. There are several factors that determine the final fee.
The configurational changes to Local Delivery can be made at WP Dashboard -> WooCommerce -> Settings -> Shipping -> Local Delivery.
Based on the settings of the store location, the taxes are determined. In the event that postcodes determine the tax, the inclusion of function to include the store postcode is necessary.
/**
* Set the store base city and postcode / zipcode
/**
* Set the store base city and postcode / zipcode */
add_filter( ‘woocommerce_countries_base_city’ , ‘set_woocommerce_countries_base_city’ );
function set_woocommerce_countries_base_city() {
// Replace with your store town/city
return ‘Townland’;
}
add_filter( ‘woocommerce_countries_base_postcode’ , ‘set_woocommerce_countries_base_postcode’ );
function set_woocommerce_countries_base_postcode() {
// Replace with your store postcode / zipcode
return ‘45040’;
}
Flat Rate Shipping
Flat Rate Shipping can let you zero in on a rate per item, per order or per shipping class. Here is how you can find the settings:
Here is How You Can Make the Configurational Changes
- Enable/Disable – The box should be checked for enabling the International Delivery.
- Method Title – The title will be able to figure out which method to choose if it has a proper title.
- The availability – Here, you can select some countries or deselect some.
- Tax Status – Here, you can define if the tax has been imposed on shipping amount.
- Cost per order – This is the rate imposed on the complete cart
You can also apply additional rates in the format
Option Name | Additional Cost | Per-cost type (order, class or item)
Local Pickup
Local Pickup is a method for your customers to pick up the order on their own. The configurational changes to it can be made on WP Dashboard -> WooCommerce -> Settings -> Shipping -> Local Pickup
Now, if you wish to disable tax calculation for Local Pickup, you can include the following code in the functions.php
add_filter( ‘woocommerce_apply_base_tax_for_local_pickup’, ‘__return_false’ );
Free Shipping
Now, with this option enabled, customers will get complete access on free shipping of the orders they have placed. You can set the conditions for a customer to enjoy this freedom.
How to Set Up the Free Shipping Coupons
There are different steps:
- Create the coupon and while you add it, you need to check the option for “Enable Free Shipping”
- When you navigate further inside the free shipping options, check the option, “A valid free shipping coupon”
Using Hooks to enable or disable free shipping
The free shipping method comes with the a is_available function that you can hook into:
return apply_filters( ‘woocommerce_shipping_’ . $this->id . ‘_is_available’, $is_available );
And this implies that we can use add_filter() on woocommerce_shipping_free_shipping_is_available
And that’s all that there is to implementing the shipping methods in WooCommerce’ WooThemes. Hope it does serve your prupose.
