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Metrics type: Supporting Metrics • Category: Ecommerce Platform

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At a glance

The breakdown of order count and revenue by shipping method (Standard, Express, Free Shipping, Overnight, Local Delivery, etc.) over the period. BigCommerce’s shipping economics differ from Shopify’s: BC uses per-channel shipping rate sets (the same SKU can have different shipping methods on web vs Amazon vs B2B portal), so this card has more complexity than the equivalent Shopify card. The card surfaces method usage so the merchant can decide which methods to promote, retire, or reprice.

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Calculation

Calculated automatically from your BigCommerce data. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

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Worked example

A US home goods brand on BigCommerce, 30-day window. Multi-channel: web (channel_id = 1), Amazon Channel Manager (channel_id = 1019847), POS (channel_id = 1020114). What’s interesting:
  1. Free Shipping is 49% of orders. This is structurally normal for stores with a free-ship threshold; the AOV-lift effect of “spend 50+forfreeshipping"pullsbasketsabovethethreshold.∗∗The4950+ for free shipping" pulls baskets above the threshold. **The 49% share validates the 50 threshold; raising to $65 might push more orders to UPS Ground (paid) and improve unit margin.**
  2. UPS 2-Day at 8% is healthy for express. Below 5% means customers don’t value speed (lower the express price or reposition); above 15% means express is a primary driver (consider keeping it premium or adding overnight options).
  3. FedEx Overnight at 2% / 95 orders is the high-value tail. Average order value on overnight is typically 2-3x DTC AOV; these are gifts, urgent replacements, or last-minute purchases. Don’t optimise this segment for cost; optimise for reliability.
  4. In-Store Pickup at 7% is the omnichannel signal. POS-eligible web orders being picked up in-store reduces shipping cost to zero and increases foot traffic for upsell. Promote pickup more visibly at checkout to grow this share.
  5. Amazon Prime at 5% reflects Amazon’s fulfilment economics (Amazon pays the shipping; the merchant pays a fulfilment fee instead). The revenue per Amazon order is similar to web but margin is lower due to FBA fees.
  6. Local Delivery at 5% is the local-business signal. If your radius covers a city, expand the radius gradually; if it covers a suburb, consider partnerships with local courier services.
Action playbook this card surfaces:
  1. Optimise the Free Shipping threshold. Run an A/B at 55or55 or 65 thresholds to see if AOV lifts and free-ship share drops appropriately. Most stores find the sweet spot at 1.4-1.6x of AOV.
  2. Audit shipping method utilisation per channel. A method at <2% on web might be over-due for retirement; a method at >5% should have rate optimisation reviews quarterly.
  3. Track shipping cost as % of revenue via BC Shipping %. Most apparel sits at 4-7%; home goods 6-12%; furniture 8-18%. Outside the band suggests pricing issues.
  4. Add Local Delivery if you don’t have it. ~5% adoption on most urban-area stores; pure margin lift if courier costs are below $7/delivery.
  5. Consider per-channel shipping rate experiments. BC’s per-channel shipping lets you test cheaper rates on Amazon (where customers won’t notice) without affecting web pricing perception.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in BigCommerce’s own dashboard: The closest native view is BC Control Panel → Settings → Shipping → Shipping Manager, which shows method definitions and rules but not usage. For usage analytics:
  • Plus / Enterprise: BC Insights → Reports → Shipping Methods (this view shows order count by method).
  • Standard: Use the Orders export (Settings → Data Solutions → Export → Orders) and pivot on shipping_method field.
For per-channel splits, BC Insights doesn’t natively expose this; merchants typically rely on this card for the cross-platform breakdown. Why our number may legitimately differ from the vendor’s: Cross-connector reconciliation (when both connectors are connected for this merchant): This card is BC-native; no direct cross-connector twin.

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Why does my Free Shipping share keep growing? Two usual causes: (1) AOV is rising organically and more orders qualify for the free-ship threshold (a good problem), or (2) you ran a free-shipping promotion that bled into the period. Cross-check with BC Discount Over Time for promotional context. My UPS Ground share dropped from 30% to 18%, what happened? Most likely UPS rates rose and customers switched to free-ship-eligible bundles. Check BC AOV for the same period; if AOV rose sharply, customers padded baskets to qualify for free shipping. Otherwise check carrier configurations in Settings → Shipping; UPS may have changed their rate API integration. Should I add Same-Day Delivery? Depends on geography and category. Urban-radius same-day works for groceries, beauty, basics; rural or specialty doesn’t. Pilot in a 3-mile radius for 30 days; if adoption clears 2% of urban orders the unit economics typically work. Why does my Amazon Prime share match my Amazon channel revenue share? Because Amazon orders almost always ship via Amazon Prime (FBA’s default). The two metrics should converge to within 1pp. My In-Store Pickup is 7% but BC Insights says 4%, why? Likely the channel split: BC may report POS-only pickups, whereas we count both POS and web orders flagged for in-store pickup. Toggle the channel filter to web-only for direct comparison. Should I retire the Overnight method? It’s only 2% of orders. No. Overnight orders typically have 2-3x AOV and serve high-urgency customer needs (gifts, replacements, business deliveries). Even at 2% volume the contribution to top-line is meaningful, and removing it pushes those customers to competitors. Can I see shipping methods by SKU? Not directly on this card. Use Ask Viq: “shipping methods used for SKU XYZ-123 over last 90 days”. Useful for SKUs with weight or size constraints (e.g., furniture-eligible-only methods). Why does my B2B portal show different methods than web? Because BC’s per-channel shipping lets you define different method sets per channel. B2B portals typically show LTL (less-than-truckload) freight methods, palletised options, or “to-be-quoted” placeholder methods that don’t appear on DTC channels. My free-shipping share is 80%, is that healthy? Probably means your threshold is too low (most orders trivially qualify) and you’re giving away shipping that customers would have paid for. Raise the threshold by 20-30% and watch the redistribution; expect 10-15pp shift to paid methods with no order-volume loss. Does this card show shipping zones? No, it shows methods. For zones, use BC Top Cities and the geographic-shipping-rate report (Plus/Enterprise only). My carrier-calculated rates are showing as one method but I have UPS, FedEx, and USPS, why? BC’s carrier-calculated shipping sometimes collapses all carriers into a single “Calculated Rates” method label depending on configuration. Check Settings → Shipping → Real Time Rate display settings; switch to “show carrier name” for clarity. Why does Local Delivery have a 5costinthiscardbutI′mcharging5 cost in this card but I'm charging 8? Average customer-paid cost is shown. If you offer free local delivery as a promo on orders over a threshold, the average is pulled down. Filter out promotional periods for the actual list-price reading. Can I see shipping methods used for refunded orders separately? Yes via Ask Viq: “shipping methods for refunded orders over last 90 days”. Useful for identifying carrier-quality issues (high refund rates on a specific method = carrier damage problem). Should I auto-upgrade Free Shipping orders to UPS Ground? Many stores do, especially when UPS Ground rates are below $5. Configure in Shipping Manager → method substitution. Improves customer experience without affecting cost much.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Shipping Methods is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across BigCommerce and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.