← GlossaryMinimum order value (MOV)
A minimum order value, or MOV, is the smallest order a shop will deliver. It exists to protect the economics of a drop: a single £6 order four miles away costs more to deliver than it earns, and a minimum declines it politely before anybody has cooked anything. The useful version is set per zone rather than site-wide, low nearby and higher further out.
In practice
A minimum order value protects the economics of a drop. A single £6 order four miles away costs more to deliver than it earns, and a minimum is how you decline it politely before anyone has cooked anything.
The useful version varies by zone: low nearby, higher further out. A single site-wide minimum is either too high for the street outside your door or too low for the far edge of your area, and it is usually both at once.
It pairs with a free-delivery threshold, which is the same lever pointed the other way: a customer who is £3 below the free-delivery line will usually add a side rather than pay the charge, which raises average order value and costs you nothing.
Also called: MOV, minimum spend delivery.
Questions people ask about minimum order value (mov)
What should my minimum order value be?
Work back from what a drop costs you: driver time, fuel and the share of the order the delivery charge does not cover. Then set it per zone, because the right number for the street outside your door is not the right number four miles away. A single figure across the whole area is almost always wrong in both directions.
Is a free-delivery threshold better than a minimum?
They do different jobs and work well together. A minimum declines orders that lose money; a free-delivery threshold raises the ones that do not. A customer £3 below the free-delivery line will usually add a side rather than pay the charge, which lifts average order value and costs you nothing.
Do minimums include the delivery charge?
Normally they apply to the food total before the delivery charge, which is the version customers find fair and staff find explainable. Whichever you choose, say it plainly at the point the basket is short, because a minimum that appears only at checkout is a lost order rather than a bigger one.
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