Delivering a sofa, a washing machine or a two-metre television has nothing to do with sending a parcel. The carrier needs information that your checkout does not ask for, and its absence produces failed deliveries, redelivery fees and unhappy customers.
The difficulty is obtaining this information without turning the checkout into a questionnaire.
What makes a heavy delivery fail
Four causes, in order of frequency.
Impossible access. Narrow street, passage under a porch too low, no parking for a truck. The driver arrives and leaves.
The floor without a lift, or with a lift too small. A two-person team planned for a ground floor does not carry a refrigerator up to the fourth.
The customer’s absence, for lack of a confirmed slot or a reachable phone number.
The misunderstood service. The customer expected an installation, the carrier delivers to the doorstep. The dispute arises from a difference in expectation, not a failure of execution.
These four causes are handled with information collected before shipping. The question is which, and at what moment.
The fields that really reduce disputes
Five pieces of information, ranked by the ratio between usefulness and friction.
The mobile phone. It is the most profitable field of all. It enables appointment setting and it saves a delivery about to fail. It must be mandatory on this type of product, with an explanation of its use.
The floor and the presence of a lift. Two fields, one second of input, and they determine the sizing of the team.
The access code or intercom. A short free field, which avoids a call and a wait at the door.
Access constraints. An optional free field: pedestrian street, difficult parking, narrow passage. Rarely filled, very useful when it is.
The desired slot. To offer if your carrier handles it, otherwise it is a promise you will not be able to keep.
Conversely, two fields are often requested without serving: the surface of the home and the type of dwelling. They add nothing that the floor and the lift do not already say.
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When to ask for them
It is the decision that arbitrates between information and friction, and it has a right answer.
During the checkout: only the phone, which is useful anyway, and the choice of the delivery service, which has a price.
After the order: everything else. A form sent by email within the hour following the order, with a personal link, collects the access information without weighing down the funnel.
This separation changes everything. The customer has already paid, they are motivated for their delivery to go well, and they fill it in willingly. The same form placed before payment loses orders.
Two precautions. The form must remain accessible without an account, through a unique link. And a reminder must go out if the information is not provided within 48 hours, before preparation.
Displaying the service clearly
It is the most avoidable cause of dispute, and it comes down to vocabulary.
Service levels carry technical names that customers do not know. Translate them into what the customer will actually experience.
Doorstep delivery: “dropped off at your front door, on the ground floor”.
Delivery to the floor: “carried up to the room of your choice”.
Delivery with installation: “installed, put into service, packaging taken back”.
Also specify what is not included. Unpacking, taking back the old appliance, electrical or plumbing connection are distinct services, and their absence is the first source of disappointment.
A practical point: display these levels on the product page, not only at checkout. A customer who discovers at payment time that delivery to the floor costs 60 euros more abandons.
Weight and dimensions in the catalog
None of the above works if your products do not carry their logistics characteristics.
Four data points per reference: real weight, packed dimensions, number of parcels, and possibly an indicator of fragility or two-person handling.
Two uses. The calculation of fees, which often depends on volumetric weight rather than real weight. And the triggering of rules: it is the crossing of a weight or dimension threshold that must activate the complementary form, automatically.
Without this data, you apply the heavy procedure to the whole catalog, which penalises small orders.
The fees and their display
Three rules.
The surcharge must appear before payment, like any component of the price.
It must be justified in one line. “Delivery by two people, carried up to the floor” explains why it is not 5.90 euros.
It must be consistent with the free shipping threshold, if you have one. A shipping threshold that applies to parcels but not to bulky items must be announced on the product page, otherwise the customer discovers it in the cart.
After the delivery
Two elements that reduce disputes downstream.
The proof of delivery, with the signature and ideally a photo of the product in place. On bulky items, disputes about the condition on receipt are frequent.
Reservations on receipt. The customer must know that they can and must issue precise reservations in case of damage, and that the mention “subject to unpacking” has no value. A short message in the shipping confirmation email is enough to inform them.
This point protects both parties: the customer knows what to do, and you have a usable record with the carrier.
Measuring
Three indicators.
The first-attempt successful delivery rate, which is the main figure. Each failure costs an additional transport.
The completion rate of the complementary form. Below 70%, review the sending moment or the reminder.
The reason for disputes, classified. It tells you which information is still missing, and it is the only way to evolve your form on a real basis.
The Heavy Items Delivery Form module for PrestaShop sets up this mechanism on PrestaShop 8 and 9: automatic triggering based on the weight or dimensions of the cart, collection of access information after the order via a personal link with a reminder, display of service levels in customer language and transmission of the data to the picking slip.
