Square Online Store: Turn on Local Delivery

[Tom]

This post was updated by a community moderator on April 20, 2020 to reflect app improvements and feature enhancements.

In many areas of the US, we know that the recent measures to control the coronavirus outbreak are impacting your business. To help you continue serving your customers, local delivery is now available with your Square account.

With the delivery feature turned on, customers can select delivery at checkout and also opt in to receive delivery text alerts. Order tickets sent to your kitchen will print all delivery details in the notes section. New delivery functionality lets you set estimated delivery time, delivery fee, and minimum delivery order value.

To turn on Local Delivery:

If you're new to Square or haven't set up a Square Online Store, follow these steps first: How to Sell Online and Allow for Pickup Orders. Next, sign into the online Square Dashboard and proceed with the process below. If you're in the retail business or a shop owner, you'll want to follow these steps instead.

Note: Delivery is available to sellers in every country Square Online Store has launched in, however, order text alert notifications are only enabled in the US at this time.

For an illustration on what your customer sees and steps to complete the delivery order process, have a look at the presentation below.

If you'd like to see a comprehensive guide, check out this article in our Support Center: Learn how to set up local delivery.

In a neighborhood where your customers can come to you? Consider trying out curbside pickup: Turn on Curbside Pickup.

Let us know how it's going and don't hesitate to raise any questions!

[porktaco]

@Tom thanks for the update and for shedding some light on Square's online store fulfillment options. Do you know if Square plans to release a "flex-delivery" style delivery fulfillment option that could utilize third-party driver pools?

[Tom]

Hi @porktaco — great to hear from you again! Hope you're doing well. I don't have specifics on hand right now but I'm checking in with a few team members. Thanks for your patience and we'll be back with more clarity as soon as possible. 🙏

[porktaco]

Hey @Tom, hope all is well! Just wanted to check in on this ask? Thanks!

[Tom]

Hey @porktaco — thanks for the reminder. Sorry to keep you waiting. Let me check in with a few folks to see where we're at with this. Will be back shortly!

[Tom]

Update: I checked in with our Online Store team and they are still working to release a courier-powered delivery option that would solve for this soon. I wasn't able to get a specific timeline for when it'll be available, though some sellers have found success with Cuboh and Chowly for third party delivery services. Do either of those aggregators help bridge the gap for your restaurant's needs?

I'll be sure to circle back here with more news as soon as we can provide more clarity.

[porktaco]

Hey @Tom, thanks so much for the update. I’m happy to hear that Square is working on a flex-delivery feature. Yes, thank you, we’re already using Chowly to integrate a buffet of third-party marketplaces (pun intended) into our Square account. However, we are really searching for a fully integrated “order-direct” solution (e.g. seamless ordering, gift card, loyalty, marketing automations, customer database, and payment processing) with an on-demand flex delivery feature. I understand that Square Online Store now can solve for all of the above except on-demand flex delivery.

Currently, we are partnered with ChowNow for our “order-direct” option (with Square integration enabled) and utilizing their flex-delivery feature to utilize the local DoorDash driver pool. It’s great! However, other than order integration, the ChowNow system is completely standalone and doesn’t talk to any other Square modules that we use (e.g. gift cards, loyalty, marketing automations, and customer directory). As you can imagine it’s quite cumbersome to regularly manage and merge data between the two separate systems not to mention the inability to accept Square gift cards, track and redeem loyalty, and/or coupon codes with our “order-direct” option. Prior to COVID, we were heavily leaning towards GoParrot as an “order-direct” replacement for ChowNow due to their advertised fully integrated relationship with Square. Recently, they updated their pricing model to include a quite prohibitive sales vig. Ideally, we hope to transition and consolidate our “order-direct” option back to Square as soon as the Online Store is able to offer an on-demand flex-delivery feature. Needless to say, we’re very much looking forward to this update. Thanks again Tom!

[Anthem]

@porktaco has said it very well. I’ll add only to support the notion that the third party solution you are working on will certainly be good solutions for some. However, for our stores, we cannot continue adding costs that strip away at profit margin without adding value in the way of increased revenue from sources other than existing customers. For our 6 locations a native system is the only option we will use. Each integrator adds value by providing services that customers like - good. Some become more loyal, some might become more repetitive. However, new customers arriving at the table are incremental, at best.  This means better services, more convenient options but an ever increasing erosion of our bottom line. Providing a clear and present opportunity for a marked increase in non-organic revenue Seems a better path to these add-on services becoming useful to my and your bottom line. There are many ways to provide reach beyond our customers through your existing offerings. I’d like to hear about details Around the native solutions not just third party integrators. I Hope this comes across informative and as an opportunity. Not intending to chastise, I’m 8 years in and love what we’ve accomplished - keep it up.  

[porktaco]

Hey @Tom, just wanted to touch base and see if the dev team was able to make any progress on a courier-powered delivery option for orders placed through Square Online Store? Thanks Tom!

[Tom]

Hello everyone—I do have an update for you. We shared out this feature earlier this morning: Square Online Store: On-demand delivery available now!

Hopefully, this helps streamline your delivery and fulfillment needs.

Also tagging a few businesses to make sure they receive this notification. When you have a moment, please check out the video and feel free to give it a try. Our Online Store team will be watching that post for feedback on how it's going. @porktaco, @Anthem, @lukejj, @Taylorchip, @Jedsplate, @Sidhu

[porktaco]

Best day ever! Thanks @Tom.

[nannamarce]

Hi @Tom is this available for US stores only? I am unable to find this feature on my Weebly oneline store editor. 

[Al777]

I do deliveries 

[peacefulbelly]

Thanks Tom. This looks great for restaurants but we are also have a greenhouse. I would like to take orders now for delivery in the future ie. next week, next month, or a specific day two months from now. Any chance for that feature soon?

[Tom]

Hey @peacefulbelly — thanks for checking in.

I ran your post by some team members and I don't have a specific timeline available for when an extended delivery date feature may be available. That being said, we do have a partnership with Postmates that may help with what you're looking for: Postmates on-demand delivery with Square.

Note that the Postmates flow is not seamlessly integrated with the buyer checkout flow so the buyer will have to check out via one channel. On the seller side, you would need to schedule the delivery separately via the Postmates portal. This adds a few steps — but it can work for now. Keep in touch and let us know how it goes!

[redwagonplants]

I also have a greenhouse business and need to schedule delivery in the future. Not same day, like a restaurant. Any chance that feature could be added very soon?

[JustinC]

@redwagonplants - We can certainly pass your request up to the Online Store Team for consideration!  We'll loop back here with future announcements as they come. 

[ACAcatering]

I'm in the same boat with everything going on.  I need to be able to set a delivery date as well as have a delivery option without a local pickup option.

[Joe]

Thanks for adding your voice here, @ACAcatering! We will continue to update this thread as more features become available. Once delivery date options drop, we will be sure to reach back out.

[FarmerLon]

Yes, the inability to set a specific delivery DATE makes this feature useless for my business. Our farm needs to be able to sell plants and produce in advance, and specify the DATE and delivery location.
Square/ Weebly doesn't seem to be in any hurry to solve that problem and provide the feature we need. It looks like I will be forced to switch to another provider.

[Amilles]

We are a coffee shop and also offer catering to our customers. It sucks that customers are still not able to chose a date and time they would like the order delivered. How long can it possibly take some developers to introduce this feature to Square smh...