How to set up your weekly schedule and delivery slots
Setting up a delivery schedule helps you manage your workflow and gives your customers clear expectations. By defining exactly when you are available to fulfill orders, you prevent overbooking and ensure you have enough time to prepare every shipment or local delivery.
How to configure your schedule
Follow these steps to set your availability and create specific time windows for your customers to choose from.
- Open Delivery Settings: Log in to your WooShop dashboard. Navigate to WooCommerce > Settings and click on the Delivery Slots tab (this may also be labeled as "Order Delivery" depending on your specific setup).
- Define Your Delivery Days: Under the General or Checkout settings, select the days of the week you offer delivery. If you are closed on weekends, uncheck Saturday and Sunday to prevent customers from selecting those dates at checkout.
- Create Time Slots: Go to the Slots section. Here you can add specific time windows, such as "9:00 AM – 12:00 PM" or "Afternoon (1:00 PM – 5:00 PM)." You can assign these slots to specific days of the week.
- Set Lead Times: Look for "Preparation Time" or "Minimum Wait Time." If you need 24 hours to prepare an order, set your lead time to 1440 minutes. This prevents a customer from ordering at 8:00 AM for a 9:00 AM delivery the same day.
- Limit Orders Per Slot: To avoid being overwhelmed, enter a maximum number of orders for each time slot. Once that limit is reached, the slot will automatically disappear from your checkout page.
- Add Holiday Blackouts: Use the "Exclusions" or "Holiday" section to add specific dates where you will be closed, such as bank holidays or seasonal breaks.
- Save Changes: Scroll to the bottom and click Save Changes.
Practical examples
The Local Bakery
If you bake everything fresh in the morning, you might set a "Next Day" delivery rule. By setting a 12-hour lead time and a cutoff of 6:00 PM, you ensure that any order placed in the evening is ready for the following day’s morning slot.
The Weekly Meal Prep Service
You might only deliver on Tuesdays and Fridays. In your settings, you would disable all other days and create two large slots: "Tuesday Delivery" and "Friday Delivery." You can set a capacity limit of 50 orders per day to match your kitchen’s output.
Troubleshooting common issues
- Slots are not appearing at checkout: This is usually caused by your "Lead Time" settings. If your lead time is set to 24 hours and the customer is trying to order for tomorrow morning, the slot may already be restricted. Try lowering the lead time to see if the slots reappear.
- Too many orders arriving at once: Check your "Maximum Orders" per slot. If this is blank, the system allows unlimited orders. Set a realistic number that your team can handle.
- Timezone mismatches: If your delivery slots seem to open or close at the wrong time, go to Settings > General in your WordPress dashboard and ensure your Timezone is set to your local city, not a UTC offset.
Summary
Managing your delivery schedule correctly ensures you never miss an order or over-promise to a customer. Once your slots are live, it’s a good idea to run a test order on your site to see exactly how the date and time picker looks to your customers.
Related topics:
- Setting up local pickup locations
- Customizing checkout fields
- Managing order notifications_
