Shopify & Mondial Relay: Conquering the Missing Phone Number for Pickup Point Labels
Hey everyone! As a Shopify migration expert and someone who spends a lot of time digging through community discussions, I often see common pain points that many store owners face. Recently, a thread popped up that perfectly illustrates one of those tricky situations: dealing with missing phone numbers when trying to generate Mondial Relay labels for pickup point orders.
Our friend ahdbk kicked off the discussion, highlighting a super frustrating error: “A recipient phone number is required for pickup point labels.” This message was blocking them from purchasing shipping labels for orders destined for Mondial Relay pickup points. Sound familiar? You’re definitely not alone.
The Core of the Problem: Pickup Points & Phone Numbers
The issue, as ahdbk explained, is that Shopify blocks modification of pickup point addresses once an order is placed. And even more critically, while a phone number might be set as “mandatory” in general checkout settings, it often only applies to the shipping address. For pickup point orders, Shopify frequently bypasses the shipping address step, relying instead on the billing address, where the phone field might still be optional.
This creates a real headache: the customer places an order, selects a pickup point, but isn't explicitly forced to enter a phone number. Then, when you go to generate the label, Mondial Relay (quite rightly, from their perspective) demands that missing contact info. ahdbk tried adding the number to the customer profile, but as kai_xing and big-bulk-discount quickly confirmed, that doesn’t retroactively update existing orders.
Tackling Existing Orders: What Are Your Options?
Let’s be honest, “fixing” past mistakes is always tougher than preventing them. Here’s what the community suggested for those orders already sitting there without a phone number:
- Manual Label Generation: This was ahdbk’s temporary workaround. Going directly to the Mondial Relay website to generate the label works, but it’s more time-consuming and, as they noted, often more expensive than using Shopify Shipping.
- Contact Shopify Support: Both kai_xing and big-bulk-discount recommended reaching out to Shopify support. While we can’t modify these orders ourselves, Shopify might have internal tools or a specific process to help update the recipient information for existing pickup point orders. It’s definitely worth opening a ticket with the order ID and a screenshot of the error.
- Manual Customer Outreach (for the brave!): kai_xing also floated the idea of exporting orders, identifying those without phone numbers, and manually contacting customers to get the missing info. This is a bit of a manual chore, but it ensures you get the labels out without cancelling orders.
Preventing Future Headaches: Proactive Steps for New Orders
This is where we can really make a difference. The goal is to ensure that phone number is collected right at checkout. Here are the strategies discussed:
1. Shopify's Native Settings (with a caveat)
You can navigate to Settings > Checkout > Customer Information > Shipping address phone number > Required. However, as kai_xing precisely pointed out, “Shopify précise que cette obligation ne s’applique que lorsqu’il existe une étape d’adresse de livraison.” (Shopify specifies that this requirement only applies when a shipping address step exists.) If your native pickup point flow bypasses this step and only collects billing information, this setting won’t force the phone number. That’s the “edge case”!
Actionable Step: Test Your Checkout Flow! kai_xing wisely suggested doing a fresh test order in an incognito browser. With the above setting on “Required,” choose Mondial Relay for a pickup point. If the phone field is still missing, it’s not a misconfiguration on your part; it’s a Shopify behavior. In that case, open a Shopify ticket with a checkout screenshot and the test order ID, specifically mentioning the “native pickup point / shipping phone requirement skipped” issue.
2. Leverage a Checkout Validation App
This is where solutions beyond native settings come into play, and adamcharvat introduced a brilliant option: using an app like Payflow.
Payflow offers a “Cart and Checkout Validation function” that can enforce a phone number on the billing address. This is critical because, as we discussed, pickup point orders often rely on the billing address for contact details. The app attaches an error to $.cart.billingAddress.phone, preventing the order from going through until the field is filled.
The best part? Payflow offers a free plan that covers one active rule, so this specific use case could cost you nothing. It runs server-side, working on all Shopify plans. Adamcharvat’s advice here is spot on: “Worth a test order to see whether Shopify Shipping then picks that number up for the Mondial Relay label.” This is the kind of insight that saves you hours of head-scratching!
It was interesting to see ahdbk’s initial post (though it appeared first in the thread, it felt like a later discovery) expressing gratitude for an app that saved them time on a similar validation rule. This hints that a solution like Payflow could be exactly what they needed.
Ultimately, this community discussion highlights a crucial point: while Shopify offers incredible flexibility, some specific shipping scenarios, especially with third-party carriers like Mondial Relay and pickup points, can reveal nuances in the checkout flow. Being proactive with validation, either through careful testing of native settings or by integrating a powerful app, is key to a smooth fulfillment process. Don’t let missing phone numbers slow down your sales! Happy shipping!