CALCURATES BLOG
The Ultimate Guide to E-commerce Shipping on WooCommerce, Shopify and Magento
Nov 2021
Nikolay Pasholok
Product Owner, Calcurates
Magento ("Adobe E-Commerce" since April 2021) is a powerful e-commerce platform for bigger e-commerce companies with lots of flexibility and space for customization. Shopify can be great for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to grow their online presence. WooCommerce is a good fit for SMEs looking to scale up.
It is hard to choose the best e-commerce platform for your future online store. When selecting a specific e-commerce platform one should look at the shipping functionality as well. Shipping affects your sales significantly: according to eMarketer more than 86% of cart abandonment is related to high shipping costs and inconvenience.
Do you know which e-commerce platform offers the best shipping experience for your customers?
Let's have a look at this ultimate guide on Woocommerce Vs Shopify Vs Magento shipping to see which one fits best your requirements.
It is hard to choose the best e-commerce platform for your future online store. When selecting a specific e-commerce platform one should look at the shipping functionality as well. Shipping affects your sales significantly: according to eMarketer more than 86% of cart abandonment is related to high shipping costs and inconvenience.
Do you know which e-commerce platform offers the best shipping experience for your customers?
Let's have a look at this ultimate guide on Woocommerce Vs Shopify Vs Magento shipping to see which one fits best your requirements.
How Does WooCommerce Shipping Work?
What it Offers for E-commerce Stores?
WooCommerce shipping functionality
WooCommerce Shipping has limited functionality, but its default version is able to solve some basic scenarios. WooCommerce Shipping includes integration with DHL and USPS: live rates, generate shipping labels and track orders. You will have access to simplified shipping zones and shipping options such as flat rates, free shipping, and local pickup. There is no Woocommerce table rate shipping.
To solve more complex shipping scenarios, WooCommerce recommends getting a third-party shipping plugin.
To solve more complex shipping scenarios, WooCommerce recommends getting a third-party shipping plugin.
What Are the Strong Features Of WooCommerce Shipping?
WooCommerce Shipping is very easy to use. You can create as many WooCommerce shipping zones as you like. It can be specified right down to zip code or a specific region. With WooCommerce shipping you can choose to generate shipping labels in bulk or print them as you process the orders individually. In general, it can be said that WooCommerce is suitable for businesses of all sizes and budgets.
- 1Shipping zones
- 2DHL and USPS live rates
- 3DHL and USPS label generation
- 4DHL and USPS order tracking
- 5Flat Rate, Free Shipping, In-Store Pickup
What Are The Limitations Of Default Woocommerce Shipping?
There is a limited choice of WooCommerce shipping options, shipping carriers, and no WooCommerce Table Rates shipping is available. Each shipping option can be assigned to different shipping zones, however, they are not flexible enough. Also, WooCommerce shipping does not support multi-carrier integration. You can get real-time rates and generate labels only from DHL and USPS.
For more advanced shipping features like Multi-Origin Shipping, Delivery Days, Dimensional Shipping, and Landed Cost, you will need to add a third-party shipping plugin.
For more advanced shipping features like Multi-Origin Shipping, Delivery Days, Dimensional Shipping, and Landed Cost, you will need to add a third-party shipping plugin.
- 1No integration with other major carriers
- 2Non-flexible shipping zones
- 3No Table Rates
- 4No weight-based shipping
Let's check if Calcurates meets your shipping needs!
Turn on cost-effective shipping
What Does Shopify Shipping Offer for E-Commerce?
Shopify Shipping Features
Shopify shipping functionality
Shopify Shipping is available for e-commerce stores that have fulfillment centers within the USA, Canada, or Australia. Shopify supported carriers are UPS, USPS, and DHL within the US, however, only for the continental US. Canada Post operates within Canada, while in Australia you can use Sendle as a supported carrier. You can obtain discounted Shopify shipping rates directly from the admin panel. Carrier shipping rates can be calculated based on cart weight, package size, and the shipping service.
Shopify shipping options are free shipping and carrier live rates. If you are based within the US, you can schedule pick up as a delivery option for your customers and also generate return shipping labels.
Additionally, Shopify shipping offers shipping label generation and order tracking.
Shopify shipping options are free shipping and carrier live rates. If you are based within the US, you can schedule pick up as a delivery option for your customers and also generate return shipping labels.
Additionally, Shopify shipping offers shipping label generation and order tracking.
What Are The Strong Shipping Features Of Shopify?
Shopify shipping calculates shipping costs based on the product weight and the package dimensions. This feature is very similar to smart packaging that is offered by Calcurates, and it helps retailers to obtain the most accurate dimensional shipping rates.
- 1Dimensional shipping
- 2Discounted shipping rates
- 3Shipping labels, including return
- 4More carriers available
What Are the Limitations of Default Shopify Shipping?
The shipping functionality offered by Shopify is limited. For shipping within Australia, flat rates will be added to your account by default. For shipping within the US and Canada, shipping rates from the corresponding carriers will be added. That is it. If you want to apply some shipping rules or custom shipping scenarios, you will need to install a 3rd party shipping Shopify app.
Shipping zones are technically offered within Shopify Shipping. The user can set a shipping zone based on countries to where the same shipping rate applies.
Shipping zones are technically offered within Shopify Shipping. The user can set a shipping zone based on countries to where the same shipping rate applies.
- 1Limited variety of carriers
- 2Non-flexible shipping zones
- 3No Table Rates
No Multi-vendor Shipping - 4No Custom Shipping Scenarios
Calcurates Related Features
What Does Magento 2 Shipping Offer for E-commerce?
Magento 2 Shipping Features
Magento 2 shipping functionality
Currently, Magento 2 offers shipping features such as flat rate shipping, table rates shipping, free shipping, and in-store pickup. Plus integrations with USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL carriers.
Flat rates shipping can be calculated based on several conditions, per order, or per item. Also, businesses can assign some basic shipping rules to flat rate shipping based on the destination.
Flat rates shipping can be calculated based on several conditions, per order, or per item. Also, businesses can assign some basic shipping rules to flat rate shipping based on the destination.
What Are the Strong Shipping Features of Magento 2?
Magento 2 Shipping offers table rate shipping, flexible flat rate calculations, in-store pickup, and basic shipping rules unlike its competitors Shopify and WooCommerce.
You can connect FedEx, USP, USPS, and DHL to your Magento store.
The current 2.4 version of Magento supports Multi-source Inventory Management. This is a huge leap for any Magento 2 e-commerce. Multi-source Inventory Management allows users to manage and control their inventory for single or multiple sources. The algorithm links the separate sources to one store and selects the best shipping method to ship the products.
You can connect FedEx, USP, USPS, and DHL to your Magento store.
The current 2.4 version of Magento supports Multi-source Inventory Management. This is a huge leap for any Magento 2 e-commerce. Multi-source Inventory Management allows users to manage and control their inventory for single or multiple sources. The algorithm links the separate sources to one store and selects the best shipping method to ship the products.
- 1More carriers available, own account connection
- 2Table Rates, In-Store Pickup, flexible Flat Rate
- 3Basic shipping rules
- 4Multi-source Inventory Management
What Are the Limitations of Default Magento 2 Shipping?
There are some limitations when it comes to shipping with Magento. First, Magento 2 Shipping does not offer any advanced shipping features such as volumetric (dimensional) shipping or delivery dates. There are more carriers offered by default Magento 2 than by WooCommerce or Shopify but it is still missing major and local European, Canadian, and Australian carriers.
As for other e-commerce platforms, also for Magento 2, you will need a 3rd party shipping extension in order to achieve shipping flexibility.
As for other e-commerce platforms, also for Magento 2, you will need a 3rd party shipping extension in order to achieve shipping flexibility.
- 1Still limited variety of carriers
- 2No shipping zones
- 3No Dimensional Shipping and Delivery Dates
- 4Lack of other advanced features
Shipping with Calcurates for WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magento
Calcurates is multi-carrier shipping software that helps you to set up custom shipping scenarios and cost-effective shipping at checkout on WooCommerce, Magento 2, and Shopify. It seamlessly integrates with major carriers worldwide and provides with many advanced shipping features that can help you calculate and display the right shipping methods and rates to your customers.
- You may target your shipping methods and rates to specific geo-locations and make them available for certain countries, states, regions, postal codes, and addresses. Shipping Zones allow you to achieve geo-flexibility by creating location-based rules.
- You may reach the highest accuracy of shipping rates from carriers by using a set of custom packages and product dimensions. Smart Packaging virtually prepacks the order and requests live rates from carriers in real time.
- By enabling and calculating dimensional weight you increase the accuracy of real-time shipping rates instead of setting up rates based on regular weight.
- In no time you may set up advanced Flat Rates, In-store pickup, or Free Shipping, power them with additional features like Shipping Rules or Estimated Delivery Dates and display them at checkout.
- This shipping option enables the highest level of shipping flexibility by setting specific rates for multiple shipping methods based on various attributes and conditions. Use mixed cart calculation algorithms to apply rates to different types of products.
- Estimated delivery dates take the stress out and make your shipping more predictable for the customers. With this feature, you can get delivery days from the carrier, manage your own delivery days for every shipping method you have and schedule available time slots.
- This shipping option helps you configure multiple pickup locations and allow orders to be received at stores or drop-off points. You will be able to set curbside pickup as well if your e-commerce has the capacity for it.
- Shipping rules add flexibility enabling conditional shipping and bringing to live custom shipping scenarios. You may restrict, surcharge, discount, and replace your shipping rates and methods according to your unique condition sets.
- You may connect your own carriers’ accounts (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, and more) in order to get real-time rates, shipping labels, and tracking status.
- Rate shopping compares real-time rates from multiple carriers in real-time, picks the cheapest or the fastest one, and displays the best option at checkout. This is a smart and automatic way that helps you offer the best shipping rates to your customers.
- Your origins (warehouses) might be served by different shipping methods. With this feature, you may set up your multi-origin shipping algorithms and make your warehouses work as a single system. Additionally, this feature will allow you to bake multiple shipping rates into one unified single shipping rate. It is also possible to split checkout displaying individual shipping methods per origin.
- Displaying shipping estimates directly on the product page can dramatically increase your conversion rates.
What Is the Best Shipping E-Commerce Platform for My Business?
Each e-commerce platform; Woocommerce, Shopify, and Magento is limited to some extent. Mainly, they are all missing enough carrier integrations. Shipping options can be combined with shipping rules and restrictions. E-commerce stores are not able to restrict shipping based on geolocation, product attributes, or customer segment. Look at how shipping rules and restrictions can make your shipping more flexible with these exemplary case studies.
WooCommerce vs Shopify vs Magento
Which One Is the Best for Shipping?
Features
WooCommerce
Shopify
Magento
Calcurates
Shipping Zones
Limited
Limitied
Basic Shipping Options: Free Shipping, Flat Rate
Table Rates
Shipping Rules and Restrictions
Limited
Dimensional Weight Shipping
Estimated Delivery Dates
Integration with Multiple Carriers
Limited
Limited
Limited
Multi-Origin or Multi-Vendor Shipping
In-Store Pickup
Shipping on Product Pages
Rate Shopping
Landed Cost
Shipping Labels
Order Tracking
FAQ
WooCommerce shipping works very easily, you can obtain real-time shipping rates from only two carriers, DHL and USPS. Flat rates shipping is based on basic condition and that is the order size.
After your order is ready you print and generate labels directly from the WooCommerce backend. To add more flexibility to your WooCommerce shipping have a look here.
After your order is ready you print and generate labels directly from the WooCommerce backend. To add more flexibility to your WooCommerce shipping have a look here.
- Choose which shipping options and carriers you want to display at the checkout for your customers
- Customers then select preferred delivery and shipping options
- Receive the payment from the customer
- Fulfill the order, generate labels and send the order information to your customers
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