How to Implement a Two-Tier Order Minimum Requirement in Your Online Store
Does your online business require a minimum order requirement of your customers? If so, how do you handle the scenario where different products behave differently from a shipping and fulfillment perspective, and therefore require different minimum thresholds?
For example, maybe you sell specialty food products. Due to the nature of your business, maybe you require a $25 order minimum for any order of your packaged products. But, lets assume that you also sell perishable products that require a specific insulated carton for shipment. Due to the cost of the packaging, you require $60 worth of perishable products in the order if the customer has selected any perishable products.
While the above sounds complicated, it is all too familiar to many online merchants, and most of them do not have an effective way to enforce these requirements. Thankfully, businesses that use the Nexternal eCommerce platform have a simple solution built in. Here is how you enable this powerful feature:
1.) In the Settings section edit Site Options. In there you will see both a Minimum Order Price field (used for the packaged products in the example above) as well as a Minimum Expected Price field (used for the perishable products in our example). As a bonus, you can instead set minimums on a quantity basis if necessary (for example, customers need to buy X bottles of wine). Set your minimums on a value or quantity basis and specify the Expedited Products Label which will provide context for your customers.
2.) In the Products section, edit the products where the Minimum Expedited Price applies (our perishable products in the above example) and select the Expedited Product checkbox if it is not already selected. This will assign these products to the new Minimum Expedited Price requirement. It is not necessary to edit the “standard” products at all.
3.) You are all set. If a customer orders “standard” products, they will be responsible for the standard order minimum. If they have products in their order that have Expedited designation, then they will have to have the correct amount of those types of products in their order before they have the ability to submit.
Two-tier order minimum requirements have confounded online merchants since the beginning of eCommerce, and have created countless customer service headaches. With the right tools, this no longer has to be an issue.
Craig is the VP of Sales at Nexternal and is known in the industry as an expert in eCommerce, systems integrations, and online marketing. Craig has been with Nexternal since 2000 and his passion and experience are apparent to all who work with him.
