Select Time and Date for Delivery at checkout

[Cornel]

I have been working on a new JL 2.5.6 VM 2.08c website since VM 2.0.6 (and upgraded along theway).
Now this website is info production, filled with all the products they need and payment can be done with iDEAL (dutch payment method).

But as this is a bakery and customer/visitor of the website www.123gebak.nl NEEDS to be able to select TIME & DATE of DELIVERY at checkout just as they had with their former JL1.0.x + VM 1.1 website / webshop.
This could be implemented the same way a customer needs to select a shipping method and payment method of fill in a coupon code !!

I have asked several virtuemart programmers but no one seems to be able to code this plugin for us.
I even think this should be part of the base virtuemart package, but as it is not (yet) we want to pay for the creation of this plugin.

Who can help ?

[PolishedGeek]

Hello -

Now if all you need is are very basic date and time fields, you can of course do that with VM 2.0 custom fields now. But it's when you need true Delivery date and time features that you will run into a problem. The reason there aren't many options by 3rd party extensions to handle Deliveries is that the number of clients needing this feature are very limited. The vast majority of VM stores are shipping goods or selling virtual products. It's only a small minority of VM stores that would be looking to buy a commercial extension to handle the delivery needs of stores like bakeries, flower shops, gift basket services, etc.  I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll see it become part of the base VM code because the usage is so limited, probably less than 1% of VM stores, if even that. It just isn't a core functionality need.

For a bakery, I assume you want to control the Delivery options that a customer can choose from during checkout. You probably don't want customers to be able to just choose any open date and a time from a dropdown. For instance, you may need to limit the number of deliveries allowed for a particular date and time to avoid overbooking, you might need to exclude certain holidays from the available dates, and you may have different cutoff times as to how far in advance someone can place an order to choose a particular delivery date and time. If these types of Delivery features are what you are looking for, we can assist you with a custom VM2 plugin. We built several variations of Delivery modules for VM 1.1. If you are still looking for a development company to help you with this, please PM me or visit our site at www.PolishedGeek.com

[Cornel]

Thank you Deb for your reply,

We are not on the same level here.  I think that more than tthe one percent of the VM stores want that option.
As we inquired also with your firm, 1200 US dollar is way out of proportion as this is a small plugin added at the end of the checkout fase (or at the same location the coupon option is displayed).

We are willing to pay for the work but 1200 US dollar is too much.   Please make this a more attractive package for us and for the VM2 community !

Kind regards,

Cornel Heijkoop
Owner CADS Internet Diensten

[PolishedGeek]

Hi, Cornel -

I really think for your needs, if they are indeed that simple (2 timeslots, 6 days per week, with no advance ordering cutoff, no holidays, no quotas, no configurable frontend, no excluded dates, no delivery charges, etc.) then you should be able to get a freelancer to do a one-off customization or basic hack for this.  Perhaps you don't need a full shipping plugin extension to handle your Delivery options at checkout, which is what we quoted for you.

My 1 - 2% estimate is probably not too far off the mark regarding the number of stores who really need Delivery scheduling features during checkout, vs. displaying a simple calendar picker and dropdown field for time choices. I doubt we'll see even 30 people commenting on this thread in the next few months that they absolutely need a Delivery shipping plugin for VM2, and will commit to paying $50 for one. Based on what we've seen over the last 3 years as a web development firm, the market just isn't that big for this type of feature in VM2.

Now if there ARE 30 or more people out there who are interested, we'd really love to hear from you! 
Please add your comment to this thread and let us know what kind of delivery store you have in VM2.  Client demands drive development of key features and new extensions, so please do make your voice heard. Thanks in advance!

[easy]

Hi Cornel,
Thanks for making this post,

Hi PolishGeek!
I am the first of those 30 interested.
It was on my "to do" list - yeah, I wanted to do it myself because I don't need full delivery system.
Here is what I would like to have on my shop.
- on the product page where I have lots of custom fields I want to give my customers an option to choose three delivery dates (yes, dates like 03 August 2012 - I want my system to calculate 3, 5 and 7 working days from current date)
- one delivery option will be standard and won't affect the price at all, other two options will increase the product price by percentage
- that's all
My clients will use standard delivery plugin and will pay depends on product size and weight during the checkout - standard vm delivery plugin will work well here.

As you see I have different needs because I am selling my service that has to be done on time and not products that I can simly take from the shelf or warehouse.
So if my clients want to get their orders done faster then they need to pay for express service.

If I won't be able to create above I will simply say 3, 5 or 7 days delivery without providing the right calendar date - I can leave without it

****************************************

But I will also need delivery options - probably more advances - for my Bakery client.
He has a website done on J1.5 and I will redesigning it to new joomla with vm shop.
He has next day delivery only but he has three different times, like from 6:00 to 7:30, from 8:00 to 9:30 and from 10:00 to 11:30.
He has his own customers (b2b only) who order day before delivery, then the bread is bake at night or early morning and is delivered in thre separated times and perhaps routes too.
I will be talking with him about what he needs exactly in next few weeks and if there will be a plugin like PolishGeek explained then I will be so happy to buy it.
I don't think my customer would like me to pay extra 1200 for this extra option so I will wait till the plugin will be done or will try to do what I can myself.
Thank you

****************************************

.... so who's next? we need another 29 people at least to motivate PolishGeek to work on it

[PolishedGeek]

Hi, easy - Thanks for posting here.  It sounds like your simplest solution would be to have a small customization made to the standard delivery plugin to give you the extra options and configure the % surcharges. On the frontend the choices could be presented as:

(o) Get it in 3 days - $xx.xx (where the price equals the calculated shipping plus a % rush surcharge)
(o) Get it in 7 days - $xx.xx (where the price equals the calculated shipping plus a different % rush surcharge)
(x) Standard Delivery - $xx.xx (calculated shipping price, default option)

You might even be able to do this even less expensively. I wonder if you could achieve this by creating three *different* copies of the standard shipping module plugin and then having each present the shipping costs at checkout, as if they were three different shipping methods, rather than different options for the same method. A little tweaking of the frontend display could hide any redundant information so they look like one set of choices.  Something to at least explore, I would think.

[PolishedGeek]

Oh, and please do share the full details of your bakery client's requirements once you have them. Thanks!

[easy]

Yeah, it will work best and simplest this way probably,

but ...

I was thinking abou giving them (my clients) an option to order few items with different priority.
Hmmm, I have to re-think my idea again cause the simpler the better.

OFF THIS TOPIC <=> May I ask you of jumping to my another post? Maybe you have more great simple ideas, who know http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=105790.0

Thank a lot for your comments,

[PolishedGeek]

Hi, easy - I took a look at the demo page you have set up, and the thread you mentioned. I think you are going to have to get a small customization done to that CustomSize plugin to allow it to work the way you want. I can't think of an easy way to do the math the way you want. Not sure if that plugin is completely open source or not. The license says proprietary, not GPL, so you may be limited in what you can do without going back to the original author to commission the work.

[Cornel]

Hi easy,

Check this little plugin:   http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/extension-specific/virtuemart-extensions/virtuemart-shipping/19911

[easy]

Hi PolshedGeek,
Thank you for your time, I asked this plugin developer to do these changes asjed for the quote or so but no answer after few days waiting yet.
But we talked earlier and he said "We are fine when you adjustthe code for your personal purpose" so I can play around with it.
Thanks again!

Cornel,
Thank you for the link, it's not exactly what I need but it's worth to try and see what it can do, it's free

In terms of the delivery plugin for your bakery, do you really need the date picker?
I have no idea what for?
In most cases bakeries sell fresh products so maybe just option to choose the day of the week: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun will be enough?
Do you sell your products to retailers? B2B only? I know some smaller shops do not order bread every single day and 3 times per week for instance.
And you could create seven, the same shipping option for each day, you could even create shopper groups like Everyday Delivery, Every 2nd Day Delivery, etc... and show or hide these shipping option ti the right group.
Do you have customers at present? If so you know best what you need to make them happy.

If your bakery is selling online to the end customer then I have no idea why date picker?

Good luck guys and see you here soon

[PolishedGeek]

You ask some good questions about delivery services. For bakeries, flower shops, gift basket delivery services, etc., it really all depends on how far in advance they want to allow scheduling of deliveries, and how complex the schedule is. If you will only take delivery order for the next few days, then it's simple to provide a drop down for the days and a few different times, and viola. It's when you need to allow people to schedule way in advance, or have a more complex set of delivery requirements, that it becomes more of a challenge.

I suppose a bakery that deals in delivering rolls and bread B2B probably doesn't need much advance scheduling. A bakery that sells more B2C probably needs longer advance scheduling (so people can order party cakes and such, way in advance). Balloon and gift basket services also like to be able to have people book way in advance for special occasions. So the needs are somewhat different. The B2C store might need something more like what we just built in VM 1.1.x for a supermarket store that offers delivery - http://docs.polishedgeek.com/wiki/display/DELIVERY/Delivery+Date+and+Time+Module+-+AJAX+Calendar+Grid . That client wanted their checkout to look professional and offer a lot of delivery features. A clickable grid was a good way to present the information during checkout in that case, as opposed to a normal calendar date picker and time dropdowns.

[easy]

Hi PolishedGeek,

good few points and great plugin, I saw this before.

now, lets wait for Cornel's reply, I really want to see what does he need in his e-bakery

Cornel,
Nan you please what exactly do you need, what is enough and what not?
I'm not as good as PolishedGeek - I'll have similar project on my desk in the next few weeks so will be good to know more before

[Cornel]

I am mentioning date picker as this is the name they call it on http://mootools.net/forge/p/mootools_datepicker/ and more specific http://aryweb.nl/projects/mootools-datepicker/Test/range.html

Yes, the bakery sells fresh products that needs to be delivered mostly the next day.... but an order can be booked in advanced to they could order a cake on monday and have it delivered to them on saterday of wednesday next week.   They must be able to choose one of the days they like.   Delivery is twice a day each working day between 08:00-10:00 and 10:00-12:00.

As virtuemart 2.0.x is all new I thought it would be fairly easy to extend current (shipping) offerings by adding a DATETIME to it and print in on the order.   For a PHP programmer this would take 1, 2 or three hours to create.
And would the module from PolishedGeek be ready today, that would be the software we would be using (and pay for it...if the price was reasonable)

Now I think the easiest way to do this is to add a caption just above the "Notes and special requests" saying  DELIVERY DATE (or Leverdatum in dutch) and add the datepicker from http://aryweb.nl/projects/mootools-datepicker/Test/range.html to it.
The notes and special requests are also printed on the order so printing the delivery date and add the entry to the database must be possible too.    This is the option I will try to create myself.  I am not a programmer so if anybody can help i am willing to pay the time needed to create the views etc.   

This delivery option must be added to the site no later than august 15th as by that time the store will be open again after holiday.

Hope you guys can help !

[PolishedGeek]

Ok, I'm going to ask what may be a dumb question  - I get to ask one a day, every day

Why are you not able to use the built in VM2 Shopper Fields custom fields feature to handle this? You could set up a field with "date" as the field type, "Shipment Form" as the place where it displays, required, etc.  And then you could do a drop down right under that for the two time ranges. When you don't need the two fields to be dependent upon each other, and you aren't worried about lead times, holidays, etc.  This might work fine for a dead simple delivery date and time capture.