Best Practices for Setting Location-Based Shipping Restrictions in Magento 2

Success in eCommerce depends on various factors, including the product quality, pricing, and marketing strategies. However, one aspect most merchants fail to acknowledge is the shipping. Poorly configured shipping settings not only undermine the customer experience but also increase operational expenses. Therefore, merchants need to set up their shipping settings carefully.

When it comes to shipping, merchants have various options. They can restrict shipping based on the product type, cart value, time, and the buyer’s location. All these settings are meant to help the merchant optimise their shipping operations and ensure optimal resource utilisation. At the same time, fine-tuned shipping settings make sure the customer receives the product early as possible.

In this article, we will specifically talk about the best practices for setting location-based shipping restrictions in Magento 2.

What is Location-based Magento 2 Shipping Restrictions?

As the name indicates, these are shipping restrictions based on the buyer’s geographical location i.e. address. For example, if the user has entered City A as their address, the merchant may opt to disable certain shipping providers as they may be expensive or take more time to deliver the product. The restriction can be based on the country, state, city, or even a specific area code.

Location-Based Shipping Restrictions for Magento – Why Are they Important?

Before we share the best practices for Magento 2 location-based shipping restrictions, we need to understand why they are important in the first place.

Cost Control

Consider two shipping companies, A and B. A customer based in XYZ has ordered a product. When calculating the shipping costs, you notice that company B’s rate is slightly higher, and they also take longer to deliver the product. Research shows that shipping costs are one of the reasons behind cart abandonment. To avoid losing a potential sale, you can restrict company B for location XYZ. Of course, this is a very basic example but provides an idea of how shipping restrictions in Magento 2 can help stores manage their costs.

Compliance with Local Laws

Apart from the cost factor, shipping restrictions are necessary for compliance with local laws. Each country or state may have different requirements for shipping certain products. For example, shipping perishable goods may require special packaging such as temperature-controlled boxes. Thus, the merchant can only select a shipping company which can help comply with these requirements. The rest are automatically restricted.

Inventory Control

As a store owner, you may realise that most of your orders come from a few specific areas. In other words, they generate the most revenue. Thus, it would make sense to prioritise these regions over others. You can restrict shipping to other locations to manage the inventory, ensuring you have enough stock for regions with the highest demand.

Customer Experience

Apart from cost control, the customer experience is the top reason to implement location-based shipping restrictions. Nowadays, users want the fastest and cheapest shipping. Although it seems impossible because the two demands are conflicting, but by tweaking the Magento 2 shipping restrictions, merchants can cater to this requirement effectively. For instance, merchants can restrict unreliable carriers or those that are known for charging hidden fees.

Methods to Implement Location-Based Shipping Restrictions in Magento 2

There are two widely used methods to implement shipping restrictions in Magento 2.

Default Magento Shipping Configuration

Magento offers in-built shipping configuration options for location-based shipping restrictions. To do so, go to the Admin Panel -> Stores -> Configuration -> Sales -> Shipping Methods. For each shipping method i.e. flat rate, table rate, or free shipping, you have the option to specify which countries you wish to ship to. For this, select the specific countries under the ‘Ship to Applicable Countries’ field. After you select the countries, click on ‘Save Config’.

This is a very straightforward way to set up country-level location-based restrictions. However, Magento has no built-in option to set up restrictions based on state, city, area code, or even specific addresses.

Magento 2 Shipping Restrictions Extension

For more advanced shipping restrictions, merchants need to opt for a shipping restrictions extension for Magento 2. These restrictions offer much more advanced features such as the ability to restrict shipping based on cart attributes and product attributes. FME’s Magento 2 Shipping Restrictions allows users to apply restrictions based on:

• Product Attributes
• Cart Attributes (e.g. weight)
• Customer Attributes (frequent buyer, first-time buyer etc)
• Coupon Codes or Catalog Rules
• Customer Groups
• Billing Address

Best Practices for Implementing Location-Based Shipping Restrictions

1. Use Data to Define Shipping Zones

   When implementing location-based shipping restrictions in Magento 2, ensure all decisions are supported by data. For example, analyse shipping costs, delivery times, and other data to determine which shipping methods are the best for each location. This allows you to reduce shipping costs and offer a much more streamlined shipping experience to the buyers.

2. Test Shipping Rules Regularly

   Once you implement a restriction, make sure to check it thoroughly to before the restriction goes live. The last thing you would want is customers using the same shipping method that you believe was restricted to them.

3. Communicate Restrictions Clearly to Customers

   Most store owners don’t communicate why they have restricted certain locations and shipping carriers. Even if they do, it is at the last stage of the checkout process. Imagine how frustrating it can be for users to enter all the information only to find out their desired shipping carrier is unavailable, or their location is ineligible entirely. To avoid this:

4. Ensure Compliance with Regulations

   Make sure that you are up to date with all relevant regulations (local, state, national, and international) when shipping items. This will help ensure compliance and avoid hefty fines and/or other legal actions. These regulations must be reflected in your Magento 2 shipping restrictions. For example, most countries have strict rules regarding import of perishable goods. Thus, only use a shipping carrier that offers specialised packaging and can cater to other regulatory requirements.

5. Keep Your Shipping Options Flexible

   Most merchants only use a handful of shipping carriers. It is highly recommended that they partner with local and smaller shipping carriers. By partnering with local carriers, they can reduce costs for local order fulfilment. They can restrict the bigger carriers from local orders, opting to use them only for distant orders.

Conclusion

This concludes our article on the best practice for setting location-based shipping restrictions in Magento 2. Although they might seem a hassle, these restrictions are necessary for managing costs and improving the customer experience. You can use a third-party extension such as FME’s Magento 2 Shipping Restrictions to set up location-based or any other shipping restrictions in a user-friendly way.