 "How blubolt Solves Complex Delivery Challenges for Shopify Plus Brands")
Shopify Plus is the launchpad for innovative brands bringing new products and experiences to consumers. However, selling products with specific fulfilment requirements (such as perishable foods or bespoke goods) can be challenging. For retailers requiring delivery within strict timeframes, to specific locations, or with production limits, standard Shopify features may fall short. At blubolt, we’ve helped brands overcome these challenges with our custom Date & Delivery Selector App, providing a smooth, flexible, and customer-friendly fulfilment experience.
Why Shopify Plus retailers face custom delivery & fulfilment challenges.
Through discovery sessions for several Shopify Plus clients, we identified common issues in ensuring that:
Every order came through with a delivery date,
Every product could have availability offered or restricted by specific location, e.g. London postcodes only, and
The above two criteria would be maintained even if the user changed locations during the ordering process.
At that time, the client's websites only offered point one. This was due to the previous logic, which dictated that for every order with a delivery date, the date was displayed on both the PDP and the cart. As a result, the logic could actually be circumvented by changing delivery details on the checkout page. Here's more on the specific challenges faced by three clients:
1. Snowdonia Cheese: flexible delivery for perishable & seasonal products.
Snowdonia Cheese has been crafting exceptional small-batch cheeses since 2001, with a focus on quality ingredients and unique recipes inspired by the rugged beauty of North Wales.
The brand wanted to:
Allow customers to choose a preferred delivery date.
Provide flexible options for peak trading periods, including limited slots and varied shipping rules by location.
Enhance the overall shopping experience without compromising operational efficiency.
2. Pipers Farm: granular delivery rules for perishable foods across the UK.
Pipers Farm is an award-winning online butcher selling grass-fed and free-range meat. The brand has been producing the finest quality meat for over 30 years, focusing on native breeds that are free to roam in fields of grass and grow at a natural pace.
The Pipers Farm team needed:
Highly granular control over delivery options for every product AND all locations in the UK.
The ability to set unlimited bespoke rules, tailored to perishable goods.
The ability to scale and offer tailored delivery options.
3. Cutter & Squidge: custom delivery options for nationwide & London customers.
Founded in a bijou kitchen by two foodie sisters, Cutter & Squidge offers baked goods like cakes, brownies, jams and caramels.
The Cutter & Squidge team wanted to expand their nationwide offering, rather than focusing primarily on London, but were limited by their existing setup. As such, they needed:
The ability to completely customise the delivery options for London and Nationwide addresses.
Complete control over delivery options for each product.
Introducing the blubolt Date & Delivery Selector App for Shopify Plus.
In response to our clients' bespoke needs, we developed a custom Shopify Plus app - the Date & Delivery Selector App - designed to handle complex fulfilment needs, like specific date selection and shipping methods. In addition, it also handles production and packing limits, even when these requirements vary by product.
Key feature 1: set precise delivery dates for every product.
We developed the Date & Delivery Selector App to ensure that every order comes through with an appropriate shipping method to fulfil the order. For example, one that takes into account the location and selected delivery date (i.e. next day, 2 days, or standard delivery).
So how did we do it? To start with, the app checks the available dates relevant to the customer’s postcode on the product detail page (PDP) and the cart. At checkout, the app then takes into consideration the cart, selected delivery date and shipping address to find applicable delivery methods and prices. So, should a customer change their delivery location during the purchasing journey, the list of available methods will alter based on the customer’s new location. This prevents customers from inadvertently circumventing the logic by changing delivery details on the checkout page.
The frontend of the app has been developed in React, and the date selector on the site itself in JavaScript & HTML / Liquid. It adds a smooth interface to the site - appearing on both the product details page (PDP) and the cart - to relay pertinent information to the customer. However, the majority of the action occurs in the backend of the app, where the data is amalgamated. Then, through an app proxy, the information is displayed on the frontend of the website. Viola!
Key feature 2: control production limits & daily packing capacity.
Another key requirement was accounting for production limits on certain items and on the maximum number of orders that could be packed on a daily basis. After all, you can only make and distribute so much cheese, cakes and sausages in a day!
To cater to this, we correlated rule sets within the app to update and offer available delivery dates to customers based on the items in their cart and their location/region. Cleverly, this also incorporates the user’s timezone in order to prevent customers in other time zones from circumventing delivery deadlines. Merchants can change these rules as often as they like.
Key feature 3: simple setup & ongoing support for Shopify merchants.
As the Date & Delivery Selector is available exclusively to blubolt clients, we install and configure the app for our clients. As part of the onboarding process, we walk you through setting up the Delivery Date app. This includes how to configure the rules for each particular brand and how to set up shipping methods, all from within the Shopify admin.
We then enable the widget on the Shopify store. The app works by showing a special button on the product page and cart page that customers click to choose their preferred delivery date. At this stage, we also review our client’s design guidelines to ensure the app is perfectly on-brand.
Then, like magic, customers can search and select a delivery date! The app shows a special 'widget' on your website that is very intuitive for customers to use. They simply enter their postcode, choose a date, and click Save. Once a customer places an order, the app saves the chosen delivery date. From here, the date selected is processed by your back-office system (e.g. your ERP, CRM, or WMS system). Naturally, if clients have any queries along the way, our team is available to assist.
The results: streamlined delivery & improved customer experience.
Snowdonia Cheese: scalable ecommerce with peak trading flexibility.
Implementing the Date & Delivery Selector App, Snowdonia Cheese has:
Streamlined operations and supported business growth.
Added a custom date picker and bespoke hamper builder for peak trading flexibility.
Enhanced the customer experience with clear, location-based delivery options.
Read more about our work with Snowdonia Cheese.
Pipers Farm: unlimited delivery rules for every product & location.
With the Date & Delivery Selector App, Pipers Farm can now completely customise the delivery experience:
Every product now has fully customisable delivery options.
Unlimited bespoke rules ensure flexibility for current and future products.
Improved scalability for perishable goods across the UK.
Read more about our work with Pipers Farm.
Cutter & Squidge: full control over nationwide & local delivery options.
The Date & Delivery Selector App is the icing on the cake for Cutter & Squidge’s Shopify Plus site with:
Filter collection pages for London and nationwide.
Full control over product-specific and location-specific delivery options.
Read more about our work with Cutter & Squidge.
Need help with your delivery challenge?
As the go-to Shopify Plus Agency for journey-led growth, we’ve helped our clients conquer their specific delivery and product capacity challenges with our Date & Delivery Selector App. As a result, they have a solid platform for continued growth and innovation on Shopify Plus.
Explore our expert Shopify services and browse our client work for even more Shopify inspiration. Alternatively, get in touch to discuss your requirements. We would love to help!
