Feature request - Shipping Categories

Our site has over 50 vendors and they prefer different delivery methods. We have set up Hermes, DPD and all the Royal Mail options and grouped them in warehouses so the vendor can choose their preferred courier. This works well except some vendors want to add special delivery options such as click & collect or additional zones. To cater for this we create a warehouse for the vendor and add the delivery methods they want to offer. Again this works OK but things start to get messy. We currently have some 112 shipping methods, many of them duplicated and if Royal Mail decide to change their prices it becomes a big job updating them all.

Would it be possible in a future update to have shipping method categories?

That way we might have top level categories such as 'Hermes Collection', 'Hermes Parcel Shop', 'Royal Mail 2nd Class Small Parcel', 'Free local delivery', 'Click & Collect' etc.

A sub-category might then be set up with combinations of top level categories such as 'Hermes Parcel Shop' and 'Click & Collect'. The combination might be called 'Hermes PS & CC' and could be assigned to a warehouse.

It would make it much easier to combine shipping methods and update prices if they change.

Regards
Trevor

Hi Jerome

We have set up shipping methods for Hermes and Royal Mail and a few others. Taking Hermes as an example we have divided the options into two groups and associated with a warehouse:

'Hermes Courier' warehouse

• Hermes Courier Collection - 0 to 1kg
• Hermes Courier Collection - 1kg to 2kg
• Hermes Courier Collection 2kg - 5kg
• . . .

'Hermes Parcel Shop' warehouse

• Hermes Courier PS - 0kg - 1kg
• Hermes Courier PS - 1kg - 2kg
• Hermes Courier PS 2kg - 5kg
• . . .

The same applies for Royal Mail but there are many more combinations so the Royal Mail warehouses are:
Royal Mail Standard - Letter
Royal Mail Standard - Large Letter
Royal Mail Standard - Small Parcel
Royal Mail Standard - Medium Parcel
Royal Mail Signed For - Letter
Royal Mail Signed For - Large Letter
Royal Mail Signed For - Small Parcel
Royal Mail Signed For - Medium Parcel

Each of these might have 4 or 5 shipping methods.

The vendor can choose the appropriate delivery method for his product but some vendors have asked for an additional shipping method. For example a vendor might use Hermes Parcel Shop but also offer 'Collect from studio'. To cater for this we create a new warehouse with the Hermes shipping methods plus a method for collect from studio.

Another example is where a vendor might want to use a different courier for exports. The numbers soon add up!

Perhaps there is a better way of achieving this?

Best regards
Trevor

Hello,

Using the weight plugin will probably help you manage all of your shipping services (it will decrease their number) :
www.hikashop.com/marketplace/product/136...ghts-by-obsidev.html

Would it be possible in a future update to have shipping method categories?

We can eventually add it on our todo list, but if you want it to be developed faster that will require development knowledge and changes on Hikashop's core files.

Kind regards,
Mohamed.

Hi Mohamed

Does the weight plugin attach to a shipping method so instead of us having 5 shipping methods for 'Hermes Courier Collection' it wouldbe replaced by one and your plugin?

Does it work by volume as well?

Trevor

Hello Trevor,

Does it work by volume as well?

You'll have access to the general volume restriction options, but you won't be able to apply a price per group of volume with that plugin.

Kind regards,
Mohamed.