Should You Offer Free shipping?
Shipping is a hotly debated topic. Everybody has an opinion on the matter. Should you offer free shipping or not depends on several factors such as your competitive situation, your product, your profit margin, and you unique selling proposition. It is a business decision that you have to carefully consider. About 60 percent of e-commerce businesses regard “free shipping with conditions” as their most successful marketing tool. However, don’t jump on the bandwagon and start offering free shipping without understanding its impact your bottom line.
Some customers might start salivating as they learn about free shipping; it doesn’t mean it is the right approach for your business. If your product is small with a shipping cost of only a few dollars, free shipping may be easy to justify. An online jewelry store, selling high-ticket items can easily justify free shipping. An online bookstore, on the other hand, selling books at an average price of $19.95 can unlikely justify free shipping.
Free shipping is more of an art than science. One of the reasons consumers’ love free shipping is that it resembles their offline shopping experience. When they buy in a store they are not charged for a shipping fee, and may expect the same online. It is something you have to test on your own customers. Try offering free shipping, but build it into the price. You should also try offering discounts instead of free shipping, and see how your customers respond.
The bottom line is that there is no such a thing as free shipping. Someone is going to pay for it one way or the other. You may decide to build the shipping charges into your prices, or you may offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount. The concept of free shipping is a topic all e-commerce businesses have to face. With careful testing and consideration, you can determine if free shipping is the best option for your business.