Where do customers place orders—on UniHop or my website?

Customers place orders through your website or your normal ordering channel (Shopify, your online store, phone orders, in-store orders, etc.). UniHop provides the delivery service—we do not sell products directly to your customers.

Details

A typical workflow looks like this:

1. Your customer places an order with your business (through your website, Shopify store, phone, or POS system).
2. Your team requests delivery through UniHop—either through a manual request or an automated workflow, depending on your setup and volume.
3. UniHop helps fulfill the delivery by matching the request with the appropriate driver/vehicle and supporting execution through pickup, transit, and drop-off.

API Integration (optional)

For businesses with higher order volume, UniHop can integrate directly with your ordering system through our API. This allows delivery requests to be created automatically when orders are placed or when they reach a specific status (such as “ready for pickup”). API integrations can connect with platforms like Shopify, custom websites, POS systems, or internal order management tools.

If your orders are not automatically integrated with our API, your delivery request process will depend on your business type and how your deliveries are timed.

Here are a few common patterns we often see:

ASAP / On-demand orders

Most common for floral shops, bakeries, fast-casual restaurants, and other businesses where orders become “ready” at unpredictable times. Once the order is prepared, staff typically request a courier for immediate pickup so the customer receives it as soon as possible.

Same-day scheduled deliveries

For orders that need to arrive within a defined time window (appointments, gifts, retail deliveries, timed drop-offs), it’s best to request delivery as early as possible. This is especially helpful for:

• longer-distance deliveries
• deliveries that require special vehicle types
• deliveries with special handling or strict timing

Early scheduling gives more time for matching, planning, and increasing on-time success.

Future scheduled orders

For next-day or future-dated orders, we recommend following a similar approach to same-day scheduled deliveries—while placing extra emphasis on scheduling well in advance for deliveries that require specific vehicles, specialty handling, or more complex pickup/drop-off access.

Batch / recurring deliveries (by request)

If you have a delivery schedule or repeated routes, you can send this to us in advance and we can help coordinate it. This works well for businesses that run repeat deliveries on a consistent cadence—daily, weekly, or on specific days/times—and want a more predictable workflow.

Common use cases include:

• Daily store-to-store or kitchen-to-store transfers
• Recurring delivery routes for the same pickup and drop-off locations
• Scheduled bulk drop-offs (multiple orders going out around the same time)
• Regular inventory or supply runs (ingredients, packaging, materials)
• Routine restocks between business locations
• Subscription-style deliveries (same customers, same schedule)

What's next?

If you’d like help deciding the best workflow for your business—manual requests vs. automated routing, recommended lead time for scheduling, or how to handle different delivery types—contact Support. We’ll help you set up a process that fits your operations and supports a reliable customer delivery experience.

Updated on: 04/13/2026