Best E-Commerce solution for only shipping to certain UK postcodes?

[webchap]

Hi there, Web designer here looking for some e-commerce advice.

One of my clients is looking for a full e-commerce package so they can list their products. They sell large items and only want to be able to sell to clients within a 50 mile radius of their retail store due to delivery costs plus they also offer aftercare on the products so travelling miles away is not feasible / cost effective.

Are there any of the open source e-commerce options able to do this. Most are US based and therefore I know they can do it via states etc. but not seen the option for UK based ones.

Have used Prestashop before and like the back end etc.

Actinic offer the facilty to limit it to UK counties but not post code radius.

Any help most welcome.

 

[Jonsam]

On big commerce / interspire shopping cart you can set delivery prices to post codes

 

[jamieclick]

Could set this up in OpenCart.

 

[ShortCouture]

There may be another way to go about this. They seem to want to prevent someone, that is not local, from ordering at all. That does restrict their sales (I appreciate their reasons) but it also runs the risk of really annoying possible customers that get all the way through the process (looking at products, thinking about it, deciding to buy) only to be prevented at the checkout from placing the order.

They could consider making it very clear on the site that delivery to xxx areas is £y, and elsewhere will be more depending on distance. Plenty of firms do this. It's not really an excuse to say that delivery is too much. There are plenty of courier firms that can take very bulky items for reasonable prices all over the country. As to the servicing issue - can the items not be serviced by other sellers around the country?

I suspect that if you look hard enough you may find a plugin for one of the opensource platforms - but it's an unusual request. People are usually looking for ways to expand their business not restrict it. What will he do when he has flooded his local market?

 

[webchap]

There may be another way to go about this. They seem to want to prevent someone, that is not local, from ordering at all. That does restrict their sales (I appreciate their reasons) but it also runs the risk of really annoying possible customers that get all the way through the process (looking at products, thinking about it, deciding to buy) only to be prevented at the checkout from placing the order.

They could consider making it very clear on the site that delivery to xxx areas is £y, and elsewhere will be more depending on distance. Plenty of firms do this. It's not really an excuse to say that delivery is too much. There are plenty of courier firms that can take very bulky items for reasonable prices all over the country. As to the servicing issue - can the items not be serviced by other sellers around the country?

I suspect that if you look hard enough you may find a plugin for one of the opensource platforms - but it's an unusual request. People are usually looking for ways to expand their business not restrict it. What will he do when he has flooded his local market?

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated. SC - I agree with your sentiments and have stressed this to them. It is the opposite of what most e-commerce packages are tailored for, to sell as far a field as possible. They sell large items of furniture and then offer aftercare with regards cleaning etc. Locally they have their own transport so deliver for free within a 50 mile radius.

As you say, it would need to be made clear that the areas covered are listed on each products page rather than frustrate customers who only discover this at checkout. I suggested even a large postage charge for customers outside of the 50 mile radius which would scare most of them off, but if it didn't then it would be a bonus to get the odd order which they can then use a courier for.

jamieclick - Will take a look at OpenCart, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[swasa11]

Hi,Try with Zeuscart which is the best free GPL Shopping Cart Software.

 

[shopintegrator]

Hello webchap,

We are currently improving the range of shipping plan capabilities available in the ShopIntegrator hosted shopping basket add-in, creating a new shipping by order value and delivery country shipping option for a client of ours who has a real need for this type of shipping plan calculation for their business trading more in Europe.

We will be able to upgrade the ShopIntegrator shopping basket service to calculate shipping charges based on matching customer delivery address post codes or post code ranges, stopping customers from ordering who do not have a qualifying post code and informing them that they will be unable to order from the merchant because they are outside the delivery area.

If you are interested in having us give you the post code based shipping feature if you were to use the ShopIntegrator hosted shopping basket add-in for your client's online shop, please do get in touch we me to discuss the timescales further. ShopIntegrator hosted shopping basket subscriptions are from only £1.67 per month, so creating a professional looking online store experience for your shoppers is easily within everyone's budget.

 

[edmondscommerce]

I think most platforms will be able to do this either with built in functionality, free extensions (eg this one for magento: http://www.magentocommerce.com/mage...ble-rate-solution--certified-bug-free/reviews) or with a little bit of custom coding

 

[labulle]

I've done a prestashop add-on for that on prestashop. It's called myOwnDeliveries.
With this module you can setup a list of post codes you can deliver.
You can also asign quotas to each sectors (based on a post code list) to limit the amount of deliveries for far sectors..
take a look at myowndeliveries.labulle.net

 

[ChrisMono]

Interspire can do it. Interspire rock.

 

[Howicks Nursery]

Take a look at blue park - you can include or exclude any or as many postcodes as you want.

 

[Deleted member 132059]

webchap, am interested to know which solution you went for in the end?