From your online store direct to your customer’s door, Sherpa’s FREE WordPress plugin for WooCommerce makes same day delivery to your customers easy.
This quick start guide will help get you up and running with the Sherpa Delivery WordPress plugin quickly.
Direct link to WordPress plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/sherpa-on-demand/
Before you start:
- Sign up for a Sherpa customer account at sherpa.net.au
-
Note your sign in details as you’ll need them to connect to your WordPress store
- If you'd prefer to use a test account first, signup on our QA server here
Prerequisites:
- You must have WooCommerce installed on your site for this plugin to work
- Your store operates in a single pickup location in an Australian metro region - see the full list of cities Sherpa Deliveries services here.
- Your store is setup in the time zone of the city our drivers will be pickup up from (set this via your WordPress dashboard > Settings > General)
- Your products are able to be delivery via Sherpa in line with out Terms and Conditions - find out more about what we can deliver here.
Known limitations:
-
Not compatible with WooCommerce Blocks Checkout
To use this plugin, you will need to use the legacy checkout template:
Switching to the legacy layouts- Edit your checkout page created by WooCommerce
- Delete the Checkout block by using the element navigator
- Add a shortcode block to the page
- Add [woocommerce_checkout] as your shortcode
- Save the page
-
Bug when used in conjunction with official WooCommerce stripe plugin
There is a known incompatibility with the official stripe woocommerce plugin when you are using Sherpa in addition to other delivery methods - The work around we suggest is to use a different Stripe/payment plugin. (such as https://wordpress.org/plugins/
woo-stripe-payment/ ).
Getting Started
1. Install the plugin
- From your WordPress dashboard select Plugins > Add New
- In the plugin search bar, type Sherpa
- Locate Sherpa Delivery for WooCommerce plugin from the search results and click Install Now
- Once the plugin is installed click Activate
2. Enable the plugin
- Once installed the plugin needs to be enabled
- Select enable plugin from the prompt at the top of the screen
- Alternatively navigate to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Sherpa
- Select Enable this shipping method
- Fill out the details for the location that items will be picked up from (Shipper details)
- Select which Delivery Services you wish to offer your customers
- Today - allows customers to select delivery times on the same day the order is placed
- Schedule for later - allows customers to select delivery times on other dates in the future
- Click Save changes
3. Connect to your Sherpa account
- Once the plugin is enabled, from the WordPress dashboard, navigate to WooCommerce > Sherpa Delivery
- Under Sherpa Account Details input the credentials you use to log in to your Sherpa account (this may be a live account or a test account)
- If you are using a Sherpa QA account, set Test Account to Yes
- Select Test & Save. You should see a confirmation message "Connected successfully & settings saved" in green. If this doesn't appear, please check your Sherpa credentials again and ensure you don't have the Test option selected incorrectly.
Important update 1/6/2024
We have recently made a change to our authentication method, enhancing the security of your accounts.
This method uses secure tokens to protect your data, making it much more resilient to potential breaches and ensuring the safety of your information.
Instead on inputting your Sherpa email and password, you will need to copy your Client API tokens, available from within your Sherpa user dashboard:
- Production environment: deliveries.sherpa.net.au/users/tokens
- QA (sandbox) environment: qa.deliveries.sherpa.net.au/users/tokens
Once changes are made, be sure to select 'Test Credentials' followed by 'Save Credentials' and then test to ensure the app is working as expected.
4. Check your Delivery Services are enabled
- After you've connected your account, Navigate back to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping > Sherpa and scroll down to Delivery Services
- Our standard delivery options will show, along with any that you may have negotiated with your Sherpa Account Manager
- Select if you wish to enable your customers to book a delivery for the day of order, or allow delivery dates in the future (a calendar will be shown to your customers at checkout)
- Rename the Sherpa service and delivery options that you wish your customer to see at checkout
- Select whether you wish your customers to see delivery options for 'Now' or chose an available delivery timeslot eg 2pm - 4pm (if your customer selects a delivery date in the future, timeslots will always be shown based on your operating hours and the selected delivery service)
5. Configure your Delivery Settings
- Once you have selected and named your Delivery Services, return to the Sherpa Delivery settings page via WooCommerce > Sherpa Delivery
- Set Create shipment on order placement to Yes for deliveries to be logged with Sherpa as soon as they are placed
- Set Create shipment on order placement to No if you wish to manually log the deliveries with Sherpa using the 'Send to Sherpa' function
- Decide if you want to add the Sherpa Tracking link to your customer order email. Customer will receive a link that shows when their delivery can be expected, and can monitor its progress once a driver is assigned
- Set Enable for All Products to Yes if you are happy for all products in your store to be delivered by a Sherpa driver.
- Set Enable for All Products to No if some of your products are not suitable for delivery by Sherpa. In this case, you will need to navigate to the individual products you do NOT want delivered by Sherpa and under Product data, set 'Ship via Sherpa' to 'No' (All products are set to Yes by default)
6. Set your delivery rates
- Scroll down to Delivery Rate & Distance
- Select the Delivery Rates drop down to choose how you wish rates to be calculated at checkout
- Sherpa rate: Rates are automatically calculated by Sherpa based on distance between pickup and delivery address
- Flat rate: Set prices for each service based on delivery radius - you can combine using flat rates and Sherpa rates by setting Outside radius to Use standard Sherpa rates for each delivery option
- Margin: Add a percentage markup to Sherpa calculated rates
Note that if you have negotiated Bulk Rates with your Sherpa Account Manager then you will need to provide a flat rate for each distance for them to appear at cart.
6. Add your business details
- Scroll down to Business Details
- Add your Store Name
- Select the Business days you wish to offer Sherpa for delivery (these should be days you are in attendance)
- Select the Operating hours for your business - these should be hours you are in attendance for the driver to pickup
- Select Preparation time for your products - the time it takes to prepare an order after it has been placed
- Add Pickup instructions - Include information drivers should know when they pickup at your location
7. Specify your delivery preferences
- Scroll down to Delivery Preferences
- Choose the vehicle suitable for delivering your products (note a motorbike can only deliver up to 5km from pickup location)
- Select the delivery flags your orders need. For instance, if your order contains alcohol, the ‘Alcohol’ flag must be selected to ensure Sherpa driver follows Responsible Service of Alcohol regulations. Flowers should be marked as ‘Fragile’
- Select Save Settings
8. Test the plugin on your site
- Ensure the plugin is enabled (see step 2)
- Add a physical item to your cart
- Visit your checkout page (note that Sherpa doesn't currently show as a shipping method on the cart page)
- Add an address within the delivery radius's you have set
- Under shipping you should see Sherpa delivery options showing for the Sherpa delivery services you have configured
- Place a test order (make sure you have set Create shipment on order placement to Yes, if set to No, you can follow instruction below to Send to Sherpa manually)
- Note that Sherpa orders will not be logged if for Cash on Delivery or non-instant payment methods
- If you have opted to send orders to Sherpa Manually, you can select 'Send to Sherpa' from the Order actions menu and follow the prompts to log the order.
- Log in to your Sherpa Delivery account (or Sherpa Delivery test account) and view current deliveries to check that the order has gone through
Should you need further assistance with our apps and plugins, please send an email to plugins@sherpa.net.au or log a support ticket via our help desk.
Disclaimer:
Extensions developed by Sherpa Pty Ltd are tested on the Standard WordPress environment using the standard themes built into the core and are duly tested prior to release on the latest version of a standard WordPress installation. Any incompatibilities with third-party themes and plugins are beyond Sherpa's responsibility. All products are provided ‘as is’ and in no case is it implied that they will function as expected under any setup or configuration nor with any or all 3rd party plugins or software or server environments. We highly recommend that you test your implementation with our software and service thoroughly. That said, we do our best to resolve any bugs or incompatibility issues our clients report to us.