Defining your shipping data

Before using the shipping notebook in the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, you need to define your shipping data in the shipping framework that WebSphere Commerce follows. After you have defined your shipping data, you can then enter it in the shipping notebook.

To define your shipping data, use the following scenario as an example. 

Example shipping scenario

The following scenario is based on the FashionFlow sample store. Note that this is not the out of the box shipping scenario for the FashionFlow sample store. If you wish to set up this scenario in FashionFlow, you can set it up by following the rest of the steps in the Setting up shipping series of tasks.

For the purposes of this example, the store is located in Canada.  In this scenario, the FashionFlow store will support shipping all products to Canada, the United States and Germany. FashionFlow offers shipping through MyShipping service. MyShipping offers the following services:

MyShipping charges the following amounts to send regular sized parcels. Note all funds are in Canadian (CDN) dollars.

Note: Although you are specifying the shipping rate in Canadian dollars, an American or German customer will see the amount in American or German currency, if a conversion rate is defined in the store. For more information on defining conversion rates, see the WebSphere Commerce  Development online help.
 

  Canada United States Germany
Overnight10.0015.0030.00
3 day5.007.0015.00
7 day3.005.0010.00

MyShipping charges the following to send oversized parcels that weigh less than 10 kilograms. Note all funds are in Canadian (CDN) dollars.

  Canada United States Germany
Overnight12.0017.0032.00
3 day7.009.0015.00
7 day5.007.0012.00

MyShipping charges the following amounts to send oversized parcels that weigh more than 10 kilograms. Note all funds are in Canadian (CDN) dollars.

  Canada United States Germany
Overnight20.0025.0040.00
3 day15.0020.0030.00
7 day10.0015.0020.00

Oversized items in the FashionFlow catalog include all women's sweaters and men's outerwear.

Defining the shipping data

Based on this scenario, define your shipping data as follows:

  1. Define jurisdiction data. Jurisdictions are geographical regions or zones representing a country or region, province or territory, or zip code range, to which you sell goods. WebSphere Commerce requires that you give each of these jurisdictions a name, and define one or more of the following criteria:
    • Country/Region
    • State/Province
    • City
    • Zip code range

    In the above scenario, you are shipping goods to Canada, United States and Germany. Thus, you have 3 jurisdictions. You will need to define the following data for each jurisdiction.

    Jurisdiction Name Jurisdiction Country or Region
    CanadaCanada
    United StatesUnited States
    GermanyGermany
  2. Define shipping modes. The shipping mode is a way of shipping goods. More specifically, a shipping mode is the combination of a shipping carrier (which is a company that provides shipping services from a fulfillment center to a customer), and the shipping service offered by that carrier. In the above scenario, your shipping carrier is MyShipping, and it offers three shipping services: Overnight, 3 day, and 7 day. As a result, you will need to define 3 shipping modes:
     
    Carrier Service
    MyShippingOvernight
    MyShipping3 day
    MyShipping7 day
  3. Define shipping codes. Shipping codes are used to group shipping charges together. Each shipping code is associated with one or more shipping charges. For example, all oversized items could be assigned the same shipping code, Oversized, All fragile items could be assigned the shipping code Fragile. All perishable items could be assigned the shipping code Perishable.

    Shipping codes are assigned to products or categories. A shipping code indicates which shipping charges are applied to which products in the order. When a customer purchases a product the codes assigned to it determine the shipping charges that are added to the order.

    In the above scenario you must define the following shipping codes:

    Name Assigned to which Products or Categories
    RegularAll
    OversizedWomen's sweaters, Men's outerwear
  4. Define shipping charges. Shipping charges are the monetary amounts that you charge your customers to ship their orders. In WebSphere Commerce, shipping charges are dependent on the following criteria:
    • Jurisdiction to which the order is shipped
    • Fulfillment center which is shipping the order
    • The shipping mode
    • The charge type - WebSphere Commerce supports three charge types:
      • By weight
      • By quantity
      • Fixed

    As a result, if you ship to numerous jurisdictions, use numerous fulfillment centers, or multiple shipping modes, you will have to create several shipping charges. Shipping charges are also associated with codes, so you will have to create shipping charges for each code used in your catalog.

    For the above scenario, you will need to create the following shipping charges:

    Code Charge Name Fulfillment center Jurisdiction Shipping Mode Charge Type Amount (CDN$)
    RegularRegular-Canada-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanadaOvernightFixed10.00
    RegularRegular-Canada-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanada3 dayFixed5.00
    RegularRegular-Canada-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanada7 dayFixed3.00
    RegularRegular-UnitedStates-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited StatesOvernightFixed15.00
    RegularRegular-UnitedStates-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited States3 dayFixed7.00
    RegularRegular-UnitedStates-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited States7 dayFixed5.00
    RegularRegular-Germany-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermanyOvernightFixed30.00
    RegularRegular-Germany-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermany3 dayFixed15.00
    RegularRegular-Germany-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermany7 dayFixed10.00
    OversizedOversized-Canada-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanadaOvernightBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    12.00
    OversizedOversized-Canada-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanada3 dayBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    7.00
    OversizedOversized-Canada-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanada7 dayBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    5.00
    OversizedOversized-UnitedStates-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited StatesOvernightBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    17.00
    OversizedOversized-UnitedStates-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited States3 dayBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    9.00
    OversizedOversized-UnitedStates-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited States7 dayBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    7.00
    OversizedOversized-Germany-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermanyOvernightBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    32.00
    OversizedOversized-Germany-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermany3 dayBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    15.00
    OversizedOversized-Germany-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermany7 dayBy weight

    (less than 10 kg)

    12.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-Canada-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanadaOvernightBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    20.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-Canada-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanada3 dayBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    15.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-Canada-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerCanada7 dayBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    10.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-UnitedStates-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited StatesOvernightBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    25.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-UnitedStates-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited States3 dayBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    20.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-UnitedStates-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerUnited States7 dayBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    15.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-Germany-OvernightFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermanyOvernightBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    40.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-Germany-3 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermany3 dayBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    30.00
    OversizedOversized10plus-Germany-7 dayFashionFlow fulfillment centerGermany7 dayBy weight

    (more than 10 kg)

    20.00

After defining your shipping data, you are ready to enter the data in the Shipping notebook. Continue with the tasks in Setting up shipping.