HotWax Commerce documentation for Shipping Methods.
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Learn how to set up shipping gateways in HotWax Commerce to integrate with Third-Party Logistics companies (Carriers) for efficient fulfillment of online orders.
The HotWax Commerce Store Fulfillment App empowers retailers to efficiently fulfill online orders from their stores. HotWax Commerce seamlessly integrates with multiple Third-Party Logistics companies, commonly known as Carriers, to generate shipping labels based on store and customer addresses, as well as the weight and dimensions of shipment packages. Each Carrier provides a Shipping Gateway software system, enabling HotWax Commerce to request shipment quotations and labels during the fulfillment process.
To enable the integration with Carriers, retailers must set up their preferred carriers, define shipping methods, and configure the necessary settings for the shipment gateway. This document outlines a four-step process that guides you through the setup of carriers, shipping methods, and the integration with the shipment gateway, ensuring a streamlined and cost-effective fulfillment process for online orders.
Navigate to the Settings > Generalpage in the hamburger menu of HotWax Commerce.
Locate and click on the option related to your carrier in the header. For instance, click on Load Fedex Data button to designate Fedex as your carrier.
After loading the data, a new menu option specific to the chosen carrier will be added to the hamburger menu. For example, if you load Fedex data, you will find a new page in Settings > Fedex Carrier Setup.
After loading Carrier data into HotWax Commerce, the next critical step is to establish communication with shipping gateways. In this section, we'll explore the essential parameters needed to enable integration with FedEx and the same steps can be applied to other carriers.
To configure Shipment Gateways settings, users need to navigate to the FedEx Carrier Setup page. For adding new gateways, users should click the Add button under the Shipment Gateway Configuration section. This will open upShipment Gateway Configuration Form, which comprises multiple fields. Not all of these fields are mandatory for configuration.
Below given fields are important and needs to be configured to enable the integration:
Connect URL, Access Account Nbr, Access Meter Number, Access User Key, Access User Pwd are mandatory fields and shared by Fedex
Shipment Gateway Config Id - Shipment Gateway Config Id is a unique identifier for each configuration. Choose your own unique ID and name it in a way that is easily recognizable later in the configuration process
Connect Url - This is the endpoint or URL where HotWax Commerce will connect to the Shipping Gateway for getting shipping quotations and labels. It serves as the gateway for sending requests and receiving responses.
Connect Timeout -Connect Timeout is the maximum time limit for establishing a connection with the Shipping Gateway. If the Shipping Gateway is unresponsive, HotWax Commerce will attempt to establish a connection, with the default timeout set to 60 seconds. You have the flexibility to set this value according to your specific needs. However, it's crucial to avoid excessively long timeouts, as they could potentially make HotWax Commerce busy or unresponsive during an extended connection process.
Access Account Nbr - This is a unique identifier associated with FedEx. It is used to authenticate and link HotWax Commerce to your specific FedEx account, ensuring that the shipping requests are associated with the correct account.
Access Meter Number - This is another identifier that helps FedEx track and manage the usage of their web services. It is specific to your FedEx account and is used for billing purposes.
Access User Key - Access User Key, also known as the 'access key,' is a security credential that authenticates HotWax Commerce when making requests to the FedEx server. It ensures that only authorized systems can interact with FedEx's services.
Access User Pwd - This is the password associated with the access key. Together with the access key, it provides a secure means of authentication, preventing unauthorized access to your FedEx account.
Label Image Type - Label Image Type is a mandatory field that determines the format or type of the shipping label image generated and returned by FedEx. Choosing the correct type, such as PDF or PNG.
After completing all field entries, you can save the shipment gateway configurations by clicking the Add button within the form. If a user has entered any incorrect information in any field they can delete the configuration by clicking on the Delete icon in the last column and add a new shipping gateway configuration with the correct information. We will be soon releasing the edit feature to modify the configurations.
Configuring the shipping options for your store is a pivotal step. Within the Product Store Shipping Method section, you can easily add specific shipping methods by clicking the Configure Shipping Method button. This action prompts a new form to appear on the screen, where configuration details must be entered. Upon clicking the Add button in the form, the new configurations will be established.
During the fulfillment process, as packers prepare packages and request shipping labels, the HotWax Commerce Fulfillment App retrieves quotations for all configured shipping methods based on configurations done in this section. These configurations help HotWax Commerce Store Fulfillment App intelligently select the least expensive shipping method, optimizing costs and ensuring timely delivery.
Product Store - Choose the Store for which you want to add the shipping method.
Tracking Required - This configuration provides flexibility in managing your fulfillment process based on specific tracking requirements and business rules. Set the value to 'Y' (Yes) to enforce a rule that fulfillment teams cannot complete the shipment without a tracking code. Alternatively, set the value to 'N' (No) to allow fulfillment teams to proceed even when the Carrier does not return a tracking code.
Shipment Gateway Config Id - Choose the 'Shipment Gateway Config Id' that you recently created to associate it with the Product Store and Shipping Method. This identifier helps in specifying which shipping gateway to connect with when requesting shipping labels for the packages.
Shipment Method Type - Choose the Shipping Method that you want to add.
Carrier Service Code - "The 'Carrier Service Code' serves as a unique identifier for a specific shipping method offered by a carrier, such as FedEx. Shipping Gateways utilize this distinctive code to identify and distinguish various shipping methods. When you enter this code in the designated field, you are essentially mapping the shipping methods from HotWax Commerce to the corresponding services provided by the Shipping Gateway.
In essence, the 'Carrier Service Code' facilitates seamless communication between HotWax Commerce and the Shipping Gateway, ensuring accurate alignment of shipping methods for streamlined order fulfillment. Here are quick links to USPS and FEDEX service code for reference: FedEx and UPS
Delivery Days - The 'Delivery Days' field represents the number of days committed by shipping methods for order delivery. This information is crucial for the HotWax Commerce Store Fulfillment App, particularly during the rate shopping process before obtaining shipping labels. The 'Delivery Days' field guides the app in shortlisting shipping methods eligible for rate shopping based on the specified delivery timeframe.
If you wish to modify any settings within your shipment methods for a product store, you can do so by clicking either the Edit or Delete icons associated with the shipping method from the last column.
Carriers offer a range of predefined boxes designed for shipping products of various sizes and weights. Retailers opting for predefined boxes enjoy the advantage of sending only the box type, eliminating the need to specify package dimensions when requesting shipping quotations and labels. To streamline your packing process, follow these steps:
Navigate to the Carrier Shipment Box section.
Click on the Add button to open up a new pop-up form. Users can add preferred boxes individually in the form. These will be the boxes available for selection by packers at the time of packing.
For each box, choose the Shipment box and Packaging code shared by Shipping Gateways. The Packaging code is crucial for the identification of various packaging boxes by Shipping Gateways.
Save the carrier shipment box by clicking on the Add button in the form.
By performing these steps, you essentially map the Packaging box from HotWax Commerce to the corresponding packaging boxes recognized by the Shipping Gateway. These setup ensure that your packing process is efficient, and packers only see the relevant box types that you have added. Click on the Delete icon in the last column if you wish to remove any carrier box from view for packers.
In HotWax Commerce, the ability to add shipping carriers to facilities is essential for order fulfillment. Once a shipment gateway is set, adding carriers to facilities enables rate shopping and shipping label generation specifically for those carriers associated with the selected facility. This feature enhances workflow efficiency by allowing the HotWax Commerce Store Fulfillment App to intelligently select the most cost-effective shipping carrier for each order. To add carriers to a facility follow these steps:
Navigate to the Carrier Facility section.
Within the Carrier Facility section, look for the Add button and click on it. This action will open a pop-up box where you can specify details for adding a new carrier to a facility.
In the pop-up box, enter the name of the facility where you want to add the carrier
Once you've entered the facility name, click on the Add button to confirm and add the respective carrier to that facility.
If needed, you can remove the association between a carrier and a facility by clicking on the Delete icon in the last column.
This guide outlines how to efficiently manage carriers and shipment methods in HotWax Commerce, covering tasks such as creating carriers, linking shipment methods, and enabling methods for brands.
In HotWax Commerce, carriers and shipment methods are used to define the delivery preference linked to an order.
Carriers: Carriers represent the shipping companies or services responsible for physically transporting the shipments like FedEx or UPS.
Shipment Methods: Shipment methods, on the other hand, represent the specific methods used for shipping goods, such as ground shipping, express shipping or standard delivery.
Carriers typically offer multiple shipment methods to customers for delivering packages. For example, a carrier like FedEx may offer ground shipping, overnight delivery, and international shipping as different shipment methods. In HotWax Commerce, these shipment methods are associated with a carrier, allowing businesses to configure and manage various shipping options offered by each carrier.
One shipment method can also be used with multiple carriers. This flexibility allows businesses to offer customers a range of shipping options while leveraging different carriers based on factors such as cost, delivery speed, reliability, and geographic coverage.
For example, the "express shipping" method could be offered by multiple carriers such as FedEx, UPS, and DHL. Each carrier may have its own pricing, service level agreements, and delivery networks, but they all provide an express shipping service that businesses can offer to their customers.
To manage carriers and shipment methods in HotWax Commerce, navigate to the "Carriers and Shipping Methods" page in the Fulfillment app.
Hint: This page is permission-driven. Make sure that you have (permissionId) added to your user before trying to open this page.
To begin managing carriers and shipment methods, you'll first need to select a carrier to manage.
Carrier integrations
Retailers can configure carriers in HotWax Commerce even if they don't have an API integration setup with them. If a carrier does not have an API integration setup, it will show up with the label "Offline label" indicating that the label will need to be generated outside of HotWax Commerce.
If the carrier you want to use is not already set up, you can create a new carrier by clicking on the "+" button on the bottom right. On the Create Carrier page you'll be prompted to name your carrier and create a unique ID for them. Make sure this ID is easy to read since you may need to reference it later when using the OMS. The unique ID also much be less that 20 characters in length.
Once you're ready, click on the "Setup Methods" button. This will set up your carrier with the provided details and navigate you to the next step where you can link the methods this carrier services.
While a carrier ID cannot be edited after creation, its name can. To edit a carrier's name, click on the edit button next to their name on the carrier detail page.
To link a shipment method to a carrier, select the checkbox on the method.
You can also focus your view to just see methods set up for a carrier by enabling the filter "Only methods for this carrier" at the top right.
When configuring a shipment method with a carrier, there are two optional attributes that can be added.
Delivery Days: Tells the OMS routing engine how fast this method is expected to be delivered by this carrier. During routing, if orders are prioritized by shipping method, the routing engine will attempt to allocate orders with lower delivery days first. Carrier Code: HotWax Commerce will use the carrier code to communicate the method for which to generate a label when integrated using APIs. This code will be provided by the carrier. If integrating with NetSuite for fulfillment, this code is mapped to the internal ID of the method setup in NetSuite and is used when syncing orders.
To create a new method, click on the "+" button on the bottom right. Give the new method a name and a unique ID. Similar to the carrier ID, this name should be easy to understand and no more than 20 characters long. Click on the save button to create the method.
Hint: avoid using carrier details in the method name since they can be linked to other carriers later on.
By default when you create a new method it is linked to the carrier where you created it from, but it will be visible on all carrier pages since shipment methods are not specific to a carrier.
Commonly used methods can be placed at the top by manually editing the sequence of shipment methods.
Hint: The sequence of methods is shared across all carriers.
Click on the more options menu at the end of a shipment method and select "Edit sequence". This will open a modal where you can drag and drop shipment methods to change their sequence. Once you're satisfied with the sequence, click on the save button on the bottom right.
Danger: clicking on the x close button on the top left will discard any changes you've made.
HotWax Commerce has intricate support for managing multiple brands through OMS. While a carrier may be set up for many shipment methods, not all brands set up in the OMS may service those methods. To ensure accurate rate-shopping during label generation, retailers can specify which methods individual brands support. Each brand, set up as a Product Store, can be selected from the tabs next to the Methods tab.
To add a method to a Product Store, select the checkbox on that method. There are also two additional configurations available when setting up a method for a Product Store.
Require tracking codes: To enforce label generation and tracking codes linked to a shipment, this setting should be enabled. When this is enabled, orders cannot be shipped from the Fulfillment app without linking a corresponding tracking code to them. Additionally, the Ship Packed Orders job won't ship packed orders for this method if they're missing tracking info.
Hint: This setting is effective on orders that are processed after it's configured.
The facilities section of the carrier settings allows retailers to manage which facilities are allowed to generate labels for this carrier. Select the checkbox on each facility that should be allowed to generate labels for this carrier.
Learn how to create customized packing boxes in HotWax Commerce, ensuring precise shipping cost calculations and accurate label generation.
Retailers employ specific packing boxes tailored to their unique product packaging needs. HotWax Commerce provides users with the ability to define their customized packing boxes. Creating customized box configurations ensures precise shipping cost calculations and accurate label generation, aligning with the retailer's specific packaging standards.
This guide outlines a step-by-step process for retailers to establish and manage boxes within HotWax Commerce which can be readily accessible for store associates to specify during fulfillment.
Configuring boxes in the general settings ensures packaging consistency and accuracy throughout the application, aiding store associates in selecting appropriate boxes during order fulfillment. Incorrect box selection may result in extra shipping charges for retailers. Users can create shipping boxes through the following steps:
Navigate to HotWax Commerce > Hamburger Menu > Settings > General Settings Page.
Scroll down to find the Shipment Box section.
Click Add to open the box creation form and add details such as:
Click Add to save the box, the box will now appear in the shipment box section.
Use the pencil icon to edit box dimensions if needed.
The added box sizes can now be mapped from in the shipment carrier setup page.
Retailers often integrate with multiple shipping carriers. When sending box details to a carrier using just the box name, this association helps the carrier identify the box size and calculate shipping costs accordingly. Users can associate the shipment boxes for shipment carriers through the following steps:
In the HotWax Commerce interface, navigate to the Settings > Carrier Setup page.
Scroll to the bottom of the Carrier Setup page to find the Carrier Shipment Box section.
Click Add within the Carrier Shipment Box section to initiate box configuration.
Within the newly opened form, select the preferred shipping boxes from the dropdown menu. The dropdown menu displays boxes created in the general settings.
Select the appropriate carrier from the available options in the Shipment Box dropdown menu. This links the selected box with the carrier for shipping purposes.
Add packaging codes, if provided by shipping carriers, as it helps in their system's identification of box types. This maps carrier-specific box sizes with the boxes in Hotwax Commerce for easy identification by the carrier.
After adding box details and packaging codes (if applicable), save the carrier shipment box configurations by clicking the Add button within the form.
These configured boxes are now ready for selection by packers during the order fulfillment process, ensuring accurate packaging aligned with specific carriers for efficient shipping.
Store associates can select appropriate boxes through the following steps:
Navigate to the specific order details within the In Progress tab of the Fulfillment App.
Within the order details section, locate and click on the Add Boxes option.
Add the required number of boxes corresponding to the order items, ensuring adequate packaging space without excess boxes. Store associates can choose to pack multiple order items into one box, reducing shipping costs and environmental impact.
Upon adding boxes, store associates can further specify box types for individual order items. Click on the select box option against the order item and navigate through the dropdown menu to select the appropriate option corresponding to each item's size and packaging requirements.
After appropriately packing all items and selecting box types click Pack to update the shipping carrier for shipping label generation with the least shipping charges for the selected boxes.
By diligently specifying both the total box quantity for the entire order and the appropriate box types for individual order items, store associates ensure accurate shipping labels, cost-effective packaging, and efficient utilization of available space, ultimately reducing shipping expenses for retailers.
Efficiently set up carriers for shipping methods in HotWax Commerce's Order Management System (OMS).
Before configuring a shipping method, it is necessary to set up a carrier corresponding to that shipping method. The OMS comes with a default placeholder carrier that can be utilized when an exact carrier shipment method doesn't need to be mapped or when Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are used to rateshop with carriers and determine an optimized shipping method.
In the OMS, a carrier is defined as a party. A party in the OMS can fulfill multiple roles, and these roles are assigned separately as PartyRoles.
To create a party for your carrier, utilize the following sample XML data and complete the party details.
Import this XML data using the web tools' import XML data function.
Insert a unique custom party ID for your carrier and proceed to import it into the system. The party ID cannot be longer than 20 characters
Now that the carrier party is created, you have to assing a carrier role to it. Add the party ID to this sample data and import it into the OMS to give the party a carrier role:
Shipment Box ID
Shipment BOX ID with which the boxes will be recognized in HotWax Commerce
Description
Small description of the box, e.g., "Standard Box Square"
Dimension Unit of Measurement
Specify the measurement unit for box dimensions, e.g., Inches, Centimeters, etc.
Box Dimensions
Input width, height, and length in the chosen unit. Example: If using inches, entering "10" for box height implies the height of the box is 10 inches.