Defining Free Shipping Rules

Your organization can only have one active free shipping definition, unless the free-shipping definition requires a market code or coupon; therefore, free shipping begin and end dates cannot overlap. As part of the single, active free-shipping definition, separate rules are defined for non-members and members. (Even if the same order threshold applies for members and for non-members, you need to define the order-level threshold for both members and non-members.) Free shipping can be defined to only be available for members. 

 

Organizations give free-shipping because they want to increase sales. It is important that organizations analyze the impact that free-shipping has on sales. Your organization needs to identify the order qualification level that encourages customers to increase their order amount without discouraging customers from placing orders. Therefore, once a free-shipping rule has been used in an order, the rule cannot be edited. In that way, the information is preserved for use in analyzing sales data.

 

Setups for free shipping have been implemented so that your organization can define:

·            The date range when free-shipping is available (end date is optional)

·            Is free shipping only available for members? (Default is N)

·            For all non-members, what is the order total that qualifies an order for free shipping? (not required if free-shipping is for members only; i.e., where Members Only = Y)

·            For members, what is the order total that qualifies an order for free shipping?

·            Does the free shipping require a market code?

·            Does the free shipping require a coupon code?

 

If free shipping is defined, you must define the begin date. Although this is very unlikely, if your organization wants to give free shipping on all orders regardless of order amount, the order total should remain as $0.

 

Additional setups are provided to capture promotional text that will be displayed on the web/mobile web and in the mobile store. For more information, please see Defining Free Shipping Promotional Text.

The system will not enforce any synchronization between the free shipping promotion text dates and the begin and end dates of the free shipping rules. Organizations may want to promote free shipping that is coming up in the future. For example, an organization that is going to give free shipping on Black Friday might begin promoting that a week or two before Black Friday. For more information on promotional text, please see Defining Free Shipping Promotional Text.

This screen can be opened regardless of whether the Use Free Shipping checkbox is checked on the Free Shipping Defaults screen. If this checkbox is NOT checked, the system won’t execute logic during order processing to assign free shipping, but you may want to do the setup for free shipping ahead of the time you want the free shipping logic to be used. If this checkbox is NOT checked, when you save the free shipping rules, you will see an informational message: “Free shipping is not currently turned on. Free-shipping must be enabled for customers to qualify for free shipping.”

The order amount that qualifies for free shipping will only be able to be defined in the base currency.

Active Free Shipping Definitions

Unless the free shipping definition requires a market code or coupon code, an organization can only have one active or current free-shipping rule. The active free shipping definition not requiring a market code or coupon can have an order total requirement for all non-members and an order total requirement for members (either of which can be set to $0 if there is no minimum order amount required). 

 

There is no limit to the number of free shipping definitions that can be created that require a market code or coupon code.  For more information market codes and coupons, please Creating a Free Shipping a Market Code or Creating a Free Shipping Coupon.

 

Staff users will be able to view past (non-active) free-shipping definitions. They can also set up future (non-active) shipping definitions.

Sample Free-Shipping Setups

·            All members get free shipping.
Set the begin and end dates (end date can be null), and check the Members Only checkbox.

·            All customers who purchase $50 or more get free shipping.
Set the begin and end dates (end date can be null), in the “Free-Shipping for Non-Members” section, enter $50 in the Order Totals or Exceeds text box, and in the "Free-Shipping for Members" group box, enter $50 in the Order Totals of Exceeds text box.

·            All customers who purchase $75 or more get free shipping and members who purchase $50 or more get free shipping.
Set the begin and end dates (end date can be null), in the “Free-Shipping for Non-Members" section, enter $75 in the Order Totals or Exceeds text box, and in the “Free-Shipping for Members” section, enter $50 in the Order Totals or Exceeds text box

Members Only?

Requires Market Code?

Requires Coupon?

Purchase Threshold for Non-Members

Purchase Threshold for Members

Who Gets Free Shipping Based on This Setup

Y

Y

N

0

0

Members get free shipping if they enter a market code that gives free shipping.

Y

N

Y

0

100.00

Members get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $100 and if they enter a coupon that gives free shipping.

Y

N

N

0

0

Members will get free shipping on all INV orders.

N

Y

N

150.00

100.00

All customers get free shipping. Non-members get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $150 and if they enter a market code that gives free shipping. Members get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $100 and they enter a market code that gives free shipping.

N

Y

N

200.000

0

Non-member customers get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $200 and if they enter a market code that gives free shipping; members get free shipping if they enter the market code regardless of their order amount.

N

N

N

0

100.00

This is a nonsensical setup but we won't prevent this. What this setup means is that all non-members get free shipping on all INV orders. Members only get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $100. We do not restrict an organization from having a different free-shipping purchase threshold for members vs. non-members.

N

N

N

150.00

100.00

This is an example of a typical free-shipping setup that organizations may use. Non-members will get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $150; members will get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $100.

N

N

N

100.00

100.00

All customers get free shipping if their order equals or exceeds $100.00.

N

N

N

0

0

All customers will get free shipping, regardless of order amount.

To create a new free shipping rule:

1.    Using the Inventory Product Manager persona, from the Personify360 main toolbar, select Shipping and Inventory > Free Shipping Rules.
Alternatively, using the System Administrator persona, from the Personify360 main toolbar, select CRM/Orders > Free Shipping Rules.
The Free Shipping Rules search screen displays.

2.    Click Create.
The Free Shipping Rules screen displays, as shown below.

3.    By default, the system generates a unique Free Shipping Id, but you can change this.
An example free-shipping ID might be 2014HOLIDAY50 to identify a free-shipping rule to be used during the 2014 holiday season that has a $50 order threshold. This ID can only include numbers, characters, and underscores.

4.    Check whether this free-shipping rule is for Members Only.

5.    Enter a Description of the free-shipping rule.

6.    From the Free-Shipping From date drop-down, select the date in which the free shipping rule becomes available.

If more than one record exists where the Requires Market Code and Requires Coupon checkboxes are NOT checked, dates cannot overlap. This date must not fall within Valid for Orders From and Through dates of other records. Dates can overlap if either the Requires Market Code and Requires Coupon checkboxes are checked.

7.    If necessary, from the Free-Shipping Through date drop-down, select the last date on which free shipping is available via this rule.

The system will not enforce any synchronization between the free shipping promotion text dates and the begin and end dates of the free-shipping rules. Organizations may want to promote free shipping that is coming up in the future. For example, an organization that is going to give free shipping on Black Friday might begin promoting that a week or two before Black Friday. For more information on promotional text, please see Defining Free Shipping Promotional Text.

8.    If necessary, check the Requires Market Code checkbox.
If the free-shipping is to be given, a market code linked to the free shipping definition must be used. For more information on market codes, please see Defining a Market Code. Please note that this can be changed until the free shipping has been used either by being linked to a market code or by being used in an order. 

9.    If necessary, check the Requires Coupon checkbox.
If the free-shipping is to be given, a coupon linked to the free shipping definition must be used. For more information on market codes, please see Creating a New Coupon. Please note that this can be changed until the free shipping has been used either by being linked to a market code or by being used in an order.  

10.  If free shipping is to be given to orders for all customers (or all non-member customers if a member amount has been defined) that equal or exceed a certain amount, enter the Order Totals of Exceeds amount in the Free-Shipping for Non-Members section.
Please note that this field will be disabled if the "Members-Only" checkbox is checked.

11.  If free shipping is to be given to orders for members that equal or exceed a certain amount, enter the Order Totals of Exceeds amount in the Free-Shipping for Members section.
An amount must be defined here if members are to get free shipping based on an order amount. Leave as zero if members always get free shipping, regardless of their order total.

12.  Click Save.
Please note that if free shipping has not been turned on for the org/org unit of the logged in user, the system will display a warning message. For more information on enabling free shipping, please see Defining Free Shipping Defaults.

Validation Messages

·            If the Use Free Shipping checkbox is NOT checked on the Free Shipping Defaults screen, the system will display the following message:  
“Free shipping is not currently turned on. Free-shipping must be enabled for customers to qualify for free shipping.”

·            If the Free-Shipping From date falls within the date range of an active setup, or the active setup does not have a Free-Shipping Through date defined when creating a new free shipping rule, the system will display the following message:
“This free-shipping rule's date range overlaps the rules for the following free-shipping rule: [Free shipping rule description (FROMDATE – TODATE)]. Please correct the dates.”

·            If the existing free-shipping rule does not have a through date, the system will display the following message:
"This free-shipping rule's start date overlaps the dates for the following free-shipping rule: [Free-shipping rule description (FROMDATE – TODATE)]. If you continue, that free-shipping rule will be updated to end prior to the start of this free-shipping rule. Do you wish to continue?"

To see a video demonstration, please see Video Demo: Setting Up Free Shipping and Viewing the Setup on the Web.

See also: Deleting a Free Shipping Rule