Set up WooCommerce Shipping Methods for Different Product Categories with WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro

Set up WooCommerce Shipping Methods for Different Product Categories

In this article, we will check out how you can set up different shipping methods based on the WooCommerce Product Categories on your website. This article will cover how the WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro plugin creates different shipping rules based on different product categories for your WooCommerce store.

Business Case

Richard is an online store owner who ships his products within the US and wants to set up his shipping based on the types of products that he has. According to Richard,

Hi, I have an issue with my product categories in my shipping plugin. I have 1 product category which has to be sent next-day shipping and everything else can be sent standard shipping or next-day shipping. I have the categories set, but if I have “prepared particles” which is next-day shipping only, and an item from any other category. How can I make sure that the products are identified correctly and shipping rates must be calculated accurately?


 

Solution

In Richard’s case, he can use the WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro plugin to set up a dedicated shipping rule based on the product categories. The plugin provides easy solutions to complex shipping scenarios like the one we just discussed using advanced calculation modes which you can set up in the plugin settings.

How to Set up Different Shipping Methods for Different Product Categories using the WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping plugin?

In order to set up shipping for this scenario, all you need to do is follow the steps below:

  • After successful installation and activation of the WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro plugin, visit the plugin settings by clicking the Settings option in the plugins page or by visiting the WooCommerce => Settings => Shipping => Shipping Pro.
  • Now in the Settings tab click on Enable This Shipping Method. This will allow you to display the rates calculated by the plugin on the cart page.
  • Under the Matrix Column Method select the following:
    • Method Title
      The text provided in this field will be displayed on the cart page. E.g. Standard Shipping or Next Day Shipping, etc.
    • Product Category
      This will allow you to set a shipping category for the rules that you are creating.
    • Base Cost
      The value in this field will be displayed as the shipping cost in the cart page.
  • Select the Calculation Mode and set it to Calculate Shipping Per Category. This will allow you to calculate shipping for each category, especially when there are multiple products from multiple categories in the cart page, and then it would add the shipping cost for each category and the total will be displayed on the cart.
  • Now Save the settings and visit the Shipping Rules tab so that you can create the shipping rules.
    Product Categories
  • Create the shipping rules by clicking on Add New and entering the Method Title, Product Category, and Base Cost. Based on the business scenario and the requirement, other options can also be selected from the Matrix Column as we discussed in the 3rd point above.
  • Once done, save the shipping rules and it would look something like the rules in the image below:
    Table rate category based shipping rules with Product Categories
  • Visit the cart page and you will be able to get the rates based on these shipping rules, as shown in the image below.
    • When the products of Category – Products with Standard Shipping, are in the cart
      Product Categories
    • When the products of Category – Products with Next Day Shipping, are in the cart
      Product Categories
    • When the products of both the Categories -Products with Next Day Shipping & Products with Standard Shipping, are in the cart
      Product Categories

Final Thoughts…

In this article, we checked how easily you can set up a shipping scenario where you want to define a dedicated shipping method for a particular product category. The WooCommerce Table Rate Shipping Pro is a great plugin, especially for those who want complete control over how they want to set up the shipping rates.

If you are among those WooCommerce store owners and want to simplify your shipping calculation, contact us and let us know your business scenario.