Code named, Zipping Zebra. The next big release for Woocommerce is almost here. Developers can download the beta now. This is a big update and one of the newest features is the Shipping Zones feature being added to the core.

Shipping Zones are groups of locations to which you ship products. You can group multiple continents, countries, states, and zip codes into a ‘zone’ for example you could have:

Local Zone = California ZIP 90210
US Domestic = All US states
Europe

Then each one of these zones can contain multiple shipping methods, such as free shipping, local pickup, and flat rates. Customers within the zone only see the shipping methods applicable to them.

If already enabled, the old shipping methods will continue to function as-is until disabled. They will be named ‘legacy’ methods for backwards compatibility. They will continue to function in 2.6, but you should move to zones as soon as you can ideally as they will be taken out in future releases.

This shipping update is the one we are keeping our eye on. However, there are a number of other updates as well. The My Account page will now have shortcodes to use to setup tabs with information. There are new ways to filter products by reviews. Reviews are increasingly becoming important for your e-commerce website.

The next Woocommerce update is the 2nd major release this year. Before you update, have a backup of your website in place. If you have questions about your Woocommerce site and updating it to the latest version, talk to your local Woocommerce Experts at Northwest Media Collective.