Shopify Local Delivery Explained: Radius, Fees, and the Cutoff That Decides It
The radius is the product
Local delivery starts with a circle, not a rate. The store picks a location, sets a radius in miles or kilometers, and every address inside that circle can choose local delivery at checkout. That radius is the decision that matters, because it decides whether the promise is keepable. A ten-mile radius around a city store is a promise the driver can keep in an afternoon. A fifty-mile radius is a promise that will fail on a Friday evening, and the failure will show up as a refund.
The zone should follow the map, not the ambition. Draw the radius, drive it once at rush hour, and cut it where the drive stops being same-day. A store that has never driven its own radius does not know what it promised.
Fees, preparation time, and the cutoff
The fee is the second decision, and it should be set against the order, not the distance. Free delivery over a threshold, a flat fee below it, or a fee by order value: all three work, but the threshold has to be set where the margin survives it. A store that offers free delivery over $35 on orders that average $40 has given away the margin on most of its deliveries. Set the threshold above the average order, so the delivery fee does the work of raising the basket.
Preparation time is the gap between the order and the handoff, and the cutoff is the time of day after which the order moves to tomorrow. A two-hour preparation time with a 2 p.m. cutoff means an order placed at 1 p.m. goes out today and an order placed at 3 p.m. goes out tomorrow, and the checkout page should say so. The most common local delivery complaint is not the fee. It is the order that was promised today and arrived tomorrow, because the cutoff was never stated.
What local delivery does to retention
Local delivery is a retention tool before it is a shipping option. A customer who gets a same-day delivery from a local store comes back for the next order, because the store has become the fast option instead of the slow one. That is the real return on the radius: not the delivery fee, which rarely covers the driver, but the second order, and the third, from a customer who now thinks of the store as local in the useful sense.
The cost side is honest too. The driver, the vehicle, the failed delivery when nobody is home, and the redelivery: all of it costs more than the fee covers on a small order. The store should price local delivery as a retention cost, not as a profit line, and measure it by repeat orders from inside the radius, not by delivery revenue.
The checks before launch
Three checks before turning it on. First, the location's inventory: local delivery can only promise what that location actually holds, and a store with two locations needs the delivery zone tied to the location that stocks the product. Second, the notification: the customer needs a text or email when the driver is on the way, because a delivery that arrives while nobody is home is a redelivery. Third, the failed-delivery rule: what happens when nobody answers, how long the driver waits, and whether the parcel comes back to the store or goes to a pickup point. A page that states those three checks is a page that has actually run local delivery, and the assistant quoting it can tell.
Related reading
If this topic is useful, these earlier guides go deeper on connected questions: Shopify Shipping Zones Explained: Why the Right Zone Is a Pricing Decision, Shopify Pickup in Store Explained: What the Customer Sees and What the Store Owes, and Shopify Add Tracking Number: What the Customer Sees After You Add It.
Frequently asked questions
How does Shopify local delivery work?
The store defines a delivery zone by distance from a location, sets a fee, a preparation time, and an order cutoff. Addresses inside the radius can choose local delivery at checkout, and orders placed before the cutoff go out the same day.
What is a good radius for Shopify local delivery?
A radius the driver can cover same-day, usually around ten miles in a city, driven once at rush hour before launch. A radius that cannot be driven same-day will fail on busy evenings and show up as refunds.
Should local delivery be free?
Free over a threshold works if the threshold sits above the average order, so the fee raises the basket. A store that offers free delivery over $35 on orders averaging $40 has given away the margin on most deliveries.
What happens if nobody is home for a local delivery?
The store needs a stated rule: how long the driver waits, whether the parcel returns to the store or goes to a pickup point, and how the customer is notified. The checkout page should state the cutoff and the failed-delivery rule up front.