Local delivery for small business works best with a short radius, a flat fee based on what one run costs you, and two delivery windows a day. You or a staff member can drive, but tell your insurer before the first delivery, since that can count as commercial use.
Syndicate builds online stores for neighbourhood shops, cafés and restaurants, so we have a stake in how you sell online.
What does delivering your own orders look like day to day?
Picture a neighbourhood grocer with a car and a part-time employee. Orders come in through the website until noon. At 1 p.m., the employee loads four bags, drives a loop through the streets within a few kilometres of the shop, and is back 40 minutes later. A second loop leaves at 5 p.m. with the afternoon’s orders.
With that routine, customers know when their order arrives, and the shop knows when someone has to leave the counter. The three numbers that make it work are the radius, the fee and the windows.
How far should you deliver?
Start small enough that one person can cover the whole area in a single loop. For a neighbourhood shop, start with the streets where your regulars live, which you can draw on a map in a few minutes. You can grow the radius once you know how long a loop takes.
Keep the radius short and one flat fee stays fair. Every extra kilometre adds time and fuel to each run, and a flat fee only works if every address costs you about the same to reach.
How do you set a flat delivery fee?
To find your fee, divide the cost of one run by the number of orders you carry on an average run. Use this flat-fee worksheet with your own numbers. The example uses the grocer’s loop from above, with made-up costs.
| Line | How to work it out | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Time for one run | Minutes from leaving the shop to coming back, handovers included | 40 minutes |
| Driver cost per hour | What you pay the person driving, all in | $25 |
| Driver cost per run | Hourly cost × minutes ÷ 60 | $25 × 40 ÷ 60 = $16.67 |
| Car cost per run | Fuel and wear for one loop | $3.33 |
| Cost of one run | Driver cost + car cost | $20.00 |
| Cost per order | Cost of one run ÷ orders on the run | 1 order: $20.00. 4 orders: $5.00. |
In the example, one run with one order costs $20 to deliver, so a $5 fee loses money on every solo trip. The same run with four orders costs $5 per order. Delivery windows let you carry four orders on a run instead of one. Our page on online stores for storefronts shows how a store charges a flat delivery rate within a radius you choose.
You can also set a minimum order for delivery, such as $40, or waive the fee above a certain amount. Both work if your margin on the order covers the gap between the fee and what the delivery costs you.
Why use two delivery windows a day?
Two delivery windows a day let you batch orders and give customers a clear promise. A customer who orders by noon gets it that afternoon, and one who orders by 4 p.m. gets it that evening. You decide when someone leaves the counter instead of reacting to each order.
In December, put the windows and your last delivery day before Christmas on the website and in the order confirmation. Customers ordering gifts will plan around a date they can see.
What should you check with your insurer?
Tell your insurer before the first delivery. The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is the industry association for home, car and business insurers. In a May 31, 2016 release, it warned drivers that premiums depend on the use they declare. An insurer may refuse all or part of a claim if you used the car for something you didn’t declare.
The insurer Sonnet says in a May 2020 article that delivering food or products for a business counts as commercial use. Sonnet adds that you may need a commercial policy or an add-on. Both sources are several years old and talk about cars in general. Call your broker with your exact plan: who drives, whose car and how many runs a week.
If an employee uses their own car, ask your broker about that too. Their personal policy may not cover deliveries for your shop.
Where do these numbers come from?
The fee example uses made-up inputs to show the arithmetic, so replace them with your own wage, mileage and times. The insurance guidance comes from IBC’s 2016 release and Sonnet’s 2020 article, the most specific public sources we found. Neither replaces advice from your broker about your own policy.
We checked these sources in October 2026. Insurers change their rules, so confirm with your broker before you start.
How does Syndicate set up local delivery for a shop?
With Syndicate, your online store offers local delivery at a flat rate you set, within a radius you choose, next to pickup at your counter. You fill orders from your own shelves, and we set up stock tracking around the system you use now, so the website shows what you have.
If packing gets busy in December, your staff can handle it, or we can send in-person staff to help with picking, packing and fulfilment, billed by the hour. When you want to ship farther, we show you how to turn on a shipping integration. Every store comes with a French version.
Once we have everything we need from you, we can have a store ready in as little as 7 to 10 days. It starts from 500 CAD a month, financed over one year, and you own it.
Would it be a bad idea to offer delivery in your neighbourhood this December? Book a free demo or call 1-844-404-4796.
