Module: Commerce content modeling

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Model shipping data fields

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Shipping-related data is essential for calculating costs, determining delivery options, and ensuring compliance with carrier requirements.

Where you store this data depends on whether shipping attributes are the same across all variants or differ per variant.

Shipping data on Product vs. Product Variant content types

  • Store shipping data in the parent Product content type when all variants share the same shipping characteristics, for example, all sizes of a dog collar ship in the same box type.
  • Store shipping data in variants when shipping characteristics differ between variants. For example, a small dog crate ships in a compact box, but an X-Large crate requires freight shipping.

Common shipping fields

Depending on your product catalog and target markets, you can define a ProductShipping RFS with these common fields:

  • ProductShippingWeight (Decimal, Taxomomy or Dropdown in case your products are standardized) - Weight in pounds or kilograms.
  • ProductShippingDimensions (Text or separate fields) - To store dimensions (length × width × height), as either a single text field (“24 × 18 × 12 inches), or as separate fields (ShippingLength, ShippingWidth, ShippingHeight).
  • ProductShippingClass (Dropdown) - Standard, Oversized, Hazardous, Fragile, Refrigerated, Live Animal - To determine available shipping methods.
  • ProductShippingOriginLocation (Text or Content Item reference) - Warehouse or fulfillment center code (optional if all products ship from one location).
  • ProductShippingHandlingDays (Integer) - Depending on the products your store sells, include processing time before shipment.
  • ProductShippingRestrictions (Text area, Taxonomy collection, or Multiple choice) - Geographic restrictions (state, country, international) to include where you can or cannot ship the product.

Integration Considerations

If you are integrating with shipping carriers or e-commerce platforms, consider adding the following optional fields:

  • ProductShippingHSCode (Text) - Harmonized System code for international shipping that’s required for customs clearance.
  • ProductShippingCountryOfOrigin (Text or Dropdown) - Manufacturing country, often required in customs documentation.
  • ProductShippingCarrierRestrictions (Multiple choice) - Store which carriers cannot handle this product.

Shipping and e-products

We recommend creating a dedicated content type for E-Product SKU for online that require handling expiration, membership access, or tracking number of downloads and custom build the functionality. In cases, where you don’t need this level of detail, consider creating a requires no shipping flag, for example, within the product variant itself. For example, Pawsome Pets sell Dog Care 101 physical book and e-book. Selecting the flag indicates e-variant of the same product and developers can handle the delivery of each variant appropraiately in code.

Keep your content model simple unless business requirements demand complexity. The rule of thumb for shipping data: store it where it naturally belongs - on parent products when consistent across variants, on individual variants when it differs.

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