Hello there,
I have seen posts from many years back in the nopCommerce forums requesting the ability to embed tracking links directly into notification e-mails sent to customers regarding shipments, but I can't seem to find any sort of resolution or advancement in the subject.
For each customers order, I enter the tracking number into each shipment and I have had several customers ask me "what do I do with this number? Which carrier was it shipped with?" I have resorted to entering in the carrier after the tracking number so that they know which carrier the shipment was sent with.
People in this day and age are very impatient with inefficiencies and I know that most other web stores provide this type of functionality. nopCommerce works fantastic for what it is but I feel that if this functionality was added it would make the store process that much more complete and would provide the customer with an easy and efficient way to track their order.
I know that the process of adding dynamic links to multiple carriers is painstaking at best, but perhaps an alternative route would be the ability to define carriers via a drop-down menu in the shipment admin page. So on the page where the admin would enter the tracking number, perhaps there could be a drop-down menu beside it where you could define the carrier used. The store admin could define their own carriers and provide a link structure that would work when a tracking number is placed in the url string.
I know there are some plugins available for many carriers to use with nopCommerce but with our store we provide free shipping and we use different carriers depending on the specific products that are ordered, so the shipment method isn't determined until the order has been picked, packed, weighed and when quote tenders have been returned by multiple carriers.
Most freight carriers use simple URL links for tracking numbers (using Canadian based shipments as an example):
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Purolator: http://www.purolator.com/purolator/ship-track/tracking-details.page?pin={trackingnumber}&sdate={todaysdate}
UPS: http://wwwapps.ups.com/WebTracking/track?track=yes&trackNums={trackingnumber}&loc=en_ca
Fedex: https://www.fedex.com/apps/fedextrack/?action=track&trackingnumber={trackingnumber}&cntry_code=ca_english
Canada Post: http://www.canadapost.ca/cpotools/apps/track/personal/findByTrackNumber?trackingNumber={trackingnumber}&LOCALE=en&LOCALE2=en
Loomis Express: http://loomisexpress.com/webship/wfTrackingStatus.aspx?PieceNumber={trackingnumber}
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If it could somehow be programmed to use that URL string in the customer notification e-mail, it would make the shopping experience that much better.
Thanks for your time! Feel free to shoot me down with reasons why it would be difficult to implement! :)
Thanks,
Travis