Looking for an app to show guaranteed delivery dates and prices (not just estimates) - Amazon-like

[BlastoT]

Shipping and expected delivery times seem to be one of the primary sources of customer headaches. Our products are typically for events, and people want to make sure it is going to be there in time. Currently, we have a convoluted set of shipping options that seems to be causing even more confusion.

My goal is for something that is Amazon-like in its simplicity: "get it by Tuesday for $xx.xx; get it by Wednesday for $xx.xx; get it by Thursday for $xx.xx; Not in a rush? Get it within the next 5-7 days for $xx.xx." Also, I want to guarantee shipping dates. Most of the plugins that I've found show only show estimated dates. I've seen that there are options to choose your delivery date from a pop-up calendar. The problem with that solution is, from what I see, the prices for the particular days aren't listed on the pop-up calendar. A customer would have to click on multiple days to understand the pricing difference of each option, which is cumbersome.

I have found this site/service that seems to have exactly what I am after: https://fenixcommerce.com/intelligent-delivery-platform. The only problem is that their pricing seems to start at $300/mo. Given how accustomed I think ecommerce customers are to Amazon's shipping options, I'm surprised I haven't found an app/plugin with similarly functionality for less. I'm hoping that I've just overlooked something in my search and someone can point me to an existing solution that is less than $300/mo. Any help is much appreciated!

[Paul_Birkhead]

You can take a look at the FedEx Small Package Quotes app or the UPS Small Package Quotes app.  On the quote settings page you'll have the option to display the expected delivery date for each of the quoted services returned.  You can also use some of the more advanced features to postpone the ship date based upon the time of day the order is received, or for a set number of days if you have order fulfillment lead times that you need to account for.

[BlastoT]

Thanks for your response. I see that they show different FedEx shipping options. However, the names of them are the shipping options themselves (FedEx Ground, FedEx Express Saver) and not the delivery dates themselves. This is somewhat similar to our current setup, and it causes problems with our customers as it doesn't provide enough info for them. Do you know if these apps have the ability to calculate and show the correct delivery dates (even better would be non-estimated dates)?

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@Paul_Birkhead wrote:

You can also use some of the more advanced features to postpone the ship date based upon the time of day the order is received, or for a set number of days if you have order fulfillment lead times that you need to account for.

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My biggest issue with this potential solution is the estimated part. I want to be able to guarantee shipping by a date to my customers.

[Paul_Birkhead]

Hi BlastroT,

The apps will display the service and the expected delivery date. For example, it will display:

FedEx Ground $12.10
Delivered by Thursday, December 26 by 5:00 PM

FedEx Second Day PM $15.95
Delivered by Tuesday, December 24 by 3:00 PM

FedEx Economy Overnight $20.50
Delivered by Monday, December 23 by 3:00 PM

FedEx Priority Overnight $30.75
Delivered by Monday, December 23 by 10:30 AM

You also have the ability to specify an order cut off time. So orders received by 12:00 PM today (for example) will ship out today, but orders received after 12:00 PM will ship the next business day. This will affect the delivery date information displayed along side the quotes.

And you have the ability to specify a fulfillment days offset. So, for example, if you typically need two days to pull an order together and ship it, you would set the fulfillment days offset of 2 days. This will add two days to the ship-date and will also effect the delivery date information displayed along side the quotes.

Sincerely
Paul Birkhead
------------------------------------
Eniture Technology
T: 404.369.0680 x701
E: paul.birkhead@eniture.com

[JoesIdeas]

If it's a matter of calculating dates by math and displaying on screen, you can customize that into the theme.

The benefit with an app is that it can probably factor in dynamic factors like holidays or delays due to natural disasters (assuming it's connecting directly to the shipper carriers API).

The benefit with hardcoding into the theme is performance  (it won't affect load speed), and you can customize the wording / dates, for example if your standard shipping usually takes 5 days, you might say "Get it by date X", where X is 6 days just to give some extra room for expectations.

As for guaranteeing ship dates I'm not sure. I've been burned enough times on shipping in ecommerce to stay away from guarantees.

If you don't find an app solution and want something custom built I can help you.

[Anindo]

I am not sure what do you exactly mean by guaranteed delivery dates. All apps show delivery estimates. The only thing that can be done is : the app developer can add a fixed set of days in the estimated delivery days to account for production days for your goods. If this is what you are looking for, we at Multi Carrier Shipping label app are looking for such a use case. You can get in touch with us.

[nikhilkulk]

Hi BlastoT,

I'm building an app that might solve your issue of unpredictable delivery times. I'd love to hop on a quick call with you to make sure I understand your problem more clearly. Will DM you.