Setting up delivery dates
You can display delivery dates instead of an estimated transit time at checkout. Delivery dates are specific dates, such as Wednesday, October 27 – Thursday, October 28. Delivery dates can encourage your customers to complete the purchase and result in more sales. Customers also don't need to look for estimated delivery dates in other pages of your online store.
Delivery dates are displayed to your customers in the following places:
- checkout and accelerated checkout such as Shop Pay
- order status page
- order confirmation email
- thank you page
On this page
Considerations and requirements for setting up delivery dates
Before you start setting up delivery dates, review the following considerations:
- Delivery dates are only available in certain countries depending on which shipping rate type you set up. To learn more, refer to Delivery dates availability.
- Delivery dates don't work with shipping rates provided by third-party apps.
- If you're using negotiated carrier-calculated shipping rates with Canada Post or UPS, then some mail services might not support delivery dates. To learn more, refer to Supported mail services.
- Delivery dates don't work with negotiated FedEx-calculated rates.
- If your checkout shows a mix of eligible and ineligible shipping rates, then delivery dates aren't displayed for your eligible rates.
To display delivery dates in your online store, you need to do the following:
- If you use legacy shipping settings, then you need to update your shipping settings.
- Set up processing time.
- Set up any of the following shipping rates:
Delivery dates availability
Delivery dates availability depends on the shipping rates type that you set up in your store. Review the following table to learn more:
| Shipping rates type | Origin country | Carrier |
|---|---|---|
| Flat shipping rates with transit time |
| Not applicable. |
| Shopify Shipping calculated rates |
|
|
| Negotiated carrier-calculated rates |
|
|
Calculating delivery dates
Your processing time is added to the transit time of the carrier, and then the estimated delivery date range is displayed instead of an estimated transit time range in your online store.
For example, if you usually process your orders within 1 business day and shipping takes 2 to 3 days, then a specific delivery date range is displayed at checkout.
Review the following considerations on how the delivery dates are calculated:
- Weekends and statutory holidays are included in the estimated delivery dates calculation.
- Business days are considered Monday to Friday.
- The business day cutoff time is 12 pm in the local timezone of the shipping origin.
Delivery dates calculation example
Review the following example how processing time and delivery dates are calculated:
- Order comes in Wednesday, January 22 after 12 pm.
- Store's processing time is set to 2 business days.
- Estimated delivery is Thursday, January 30 - Friday, January 31.
| Date | Fulfillment workflow | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday, January 22 | Order cutoff time | An order is placed after 12 pm, so January 22 isn't included in the processing time. |
| Thursday, January 23 | Processing time | You start fulfilling the order. |
| Friday, January 24 | Holiday | Holidays don't count as processing time. |
| Saturday, January 25 | Weekend | Weekends don't count as processing time. |
| Sunday, January 26 | Weekend | |
| Monday, January 27 | Processing time | You continue fulfilling the order. |
| Tuesday, January 28 | Processing time ends and transit time starts | You hand the package to the carrier. |
| Wednesday, January 29 | Transit time | The carrier ships the package to your customer. |
| Thursday, January 30 | Transit time | |
| Friday, January 31 | Transit time |
Add delivery dates to custom order confirmation notification
If you customized your order confirmation notification, then delivery dates might not be included in your order confirmation notification by default.
To add delivery dates to your custom order confirmation notification, you need to edit your template and make sure that it has a specific Liquid variable.
Steps:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Notifications.
- In the Orders section, click Order confirmation.
- Make sure that your template has the following liquid variable after the
{% if requires_shipping %}variable:
{% if consolidated_estimated_delivery_time %}
<p>
Estimated delivery <b>{{ consolidated_estimated_delivery_time }}</b>
</p>
{% endif %}- Click Save.
Supported mail services
If you're using negotiated carrier-calculated shipping rates with Canada Post or UPS, then some mail services might not support delivery dates.
Review the following list of mail services that support delivery dates:
| Shipping carrier | Mail service |
|---|---|
| Canada Post |
|
| UPS |
|