Managing a WooCommerce store involves offering various shipping options to meet the diverse needs of customers. However, sometimes you may want to control which shipping methods are visible to your customers at checkout. This could be due to factors such as customer location, product type, or specific promotional offers. In this blog, we will explore how to hide specific shipping methods in WooCommerce, giving store owners greater flexibility and control over the shopping experience.
Why Would You Want to Hide a Shipping Method?
WooCommerce comes with built-in shipping options like flat rate, free shipping, and local pickup, but there may be scenarios where certain shipping methods should not be available to customers under specific conditions. Here are some common use cases:
- Shipping Limitations Based on Location: For example, you may offer free shipping for local customers but restrict it for international buyers.
- Promotion Periods: During special promotions, you may want to hide certain shipping methods (such as expedited shipping) to force customers to choose lower-cost options.
- Specific Products: Certain items like fragile or oversized products may require special shipping methods, which could be different from the standard options available to the rest of your catalog.
- Customer Group Preferences: Offering different shipping methods to different user groups (like VIP customers) is a common strategy, and some methods may need to be hidden for regular customers.
How to Hide a Shipping Method in WooCommerce
There are various ways to hide shipping methods in WooCommerce. Let’s look at a few popular methods:
- Using the Built-In WooCommerce Settings: WooCommerce allows you to set conditions for shipping methods using the default settings and shipping zones. You can choose when certain methods should be available based on geographic locations or order totals.
- Navigate to
WooCommerce>Settings>Shipping>Shipping Zones. - Click on the shipping zone where you want to configure the available methods.
- You can add new methods or edit existing ones for each zone, and depending on the zone, WooCommerce will automatically display the corresponding shipping methods to users from that location.
- Navigate to
- Using Plugins to Hide Shipping Methods: If you need more control over which shipping methods are displayed based on specific conditions like product categories, customer roles, or cart content, you may need a plugin. Several WooCommerce plugins provide advanced conditional logic for hiding shipping methods.A popular plugin for this is WooCommerce Conditional Shipping and Payments. With this plugin, you can set up rules to hide shipping methods when certain conditions are met. For example, you can configure the plugin to hide specific methods if a customer’s cart contains a particular product, or if their cart value is below a certain threshold.The advantage of using this type of plugin is the ability to set precise rules for your store without needing to write custom code.
- Custom Code to Hide Shipping Methods: For store owners comfortable with coding, a custom function can be added to your theme’s
functions.phpfile to control the visibility of shipping methods. This approach allows for more complex customizations that may not be possible with the default WooCommerce settings or even some plugins.Here’s an example of how to hide a specific shipping method based on the cart contents:phpCopy codeadd_filter( 'woocommerce_available_shipping_methods', 'hide_shipping_method_based_on_cart', 10, 2 ); function hide_shipping_method_based_on_cart( $available_shipping_methods, $package ) { // Get the cart contents $cart_items = WC()->cart->get_cart_contents(); // Loop through cart items and check for a specific product foreach ( $cart_items as $item ) { if ( has_term( 'specific-category', 'product_cat', $item['product_id'] ) ) { unset( $available_shipping_methods['flat_rate'] ); // Hide flat rate shipping method break; } } return $available_shipping_methods; }In this example, the flat rate shipping method is hidden if any product from a specific category is in the cart. This custom code provides a high level of flexibility for WooCommerce store owners. - Hiding Shipping Methods for Specific User Roles: If you want to show or hide shipping options based on the user’s role, you can modify the
functions.phpfile further. For instance, you might want to offer premium shipping methods only to VIP customers. This can be done with the following code snippet:phpCopy codeadd_filter( 'woocommerce_available_shipping_methods', 'hide_shipping_methods_for_user_roles', 10, 2 ); function hide_shipping_methods_for_user_roles( $available_shipping_methods, $package ) { if ( current_user_can( 'premium_customer' ) ) { // Don't hide any shipping methods for premium customers return $available_shipping_methods; } else { // Hide certain shipping methods for non-premium customers unset( $available_shipping_methods['flat_rate'] ); } return $available_shipping_methods; }This code ensures that premium customers see all available shipping methods, while other customers might have some options removed.
Benefits of Hiding Shipping Methods
There are several reasons why you might want to hide shipping methods in WooCommerce:
- Better User Experience: Displaying only relevant shipping methods ensures that customers don’t feel overwhelmed by too many choices. This streamlined approach can make the checkout process smoother and faster.
- Cost Control: By hiding expensive shipping methods, you can encourage customers to opt for more affordable options. This is especially useful for store promotions or seasonal offers.
- Promotional Strategies: During special offers or discounts, you may want to hide certain shipping options to guide customers toward more budget-friendly choices, helping to increase profit margins.
- Customized Experiences: If you’re running a store with varied products or customer groups, hiding certain shipping options based on cart contents or customer types can create a more personalized shopping experience.
Conclusion
Hide Shipping Method For WooCommerce provides store owners with better control over their shipping strategy and improves the user experience. Whether you use built-in settings, plugins, or custom code, there are multiple ways to customize how shipping options are displayed. With the right approach, you can ensure that customers see only the shipping methods that are relevant to them, which can help reduce cart abandonment, improve conversions, and ultimately enhance the shopping experience on your WooCommerce store.
