It would be interesting to see what kind of Future web commerce promotion strategies are used by websites

It would be interesting to see what kind of Future web commerce promotion strategies are used by websites

Great comment, wonderful ideas – I haven’t tested the impact of free return shipping, but there is a downside:

I’ve had customers that choose the wrong product and then wanted to return it (even it wasn’t my fault they choose another product because they thought they would like it)

Offering free returns for this kind of buyers might prove to be costly.

Anecdotally, I have not seen any impact on our order volume by offering free shipping.

Of course, the question is influenced by the kind of products that are being offered.

A jewelry site, with high value-low shipping cost products is going to be different from a site that offers products that are more expensive to ship.

I think the bigger issue is full disclosure up front. As a customer, I was very upset when I discovered a shipping charge that was 50% of the order value, but not until the shopping cart presented. I was very upset with the surprise. But I was too far into the order, and too late in getting the gift sent, to quit. Instead, I went away vowing never to do business with that vendor again.

If I had been advised upfront that there was a shipping charge and how much, it might have changed my product selection. But I would have been a much happier buyer.

In our business, because we sell one-off art and jewelry objects, we frequently conclude our sales with a telephone conversation. We have never had a buyer ask for free shipping, but we have had requests for discounts.

We do quote shipping at cost. Perhaps that is more acceptable to the customer who believes it is an inevitable third-party charge.

Here is another free shipping question. What about return shipping of a product that is deemed unsatisfactory when it is received and inspected? Since a satisfaction guarantee is a fundamental condition for closing a sight-unseen online order, perhaps offering free return shipping in the event of dissatisfaction would have a dramatic effect on sales.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

It also cuts out one additional step in the sales process with the need to calculate a shipping cost and an extra decision the shopper needs to make before final action.

From a vendor perspective it depends on either the value of product and/or value of final purchase.

The higher the value, the higher the margin and the less delivery costs are in relative terms. And the easier it is to include and cover the cost of a free shipping offer.

It may be that free shipping on a stated order value is the optimum for both vendor and shopper. If clearly stated on all sales pages the customer is in full knowledge of what is required.

As Melissa Burdon in her blog post here (The Smooth Leg Approach to Conversion) showed that depending on the value of the purchase the ’shock’ of the shipping cost could well have ended with abandonment of the sale and only overcome by a good discount offer (which could, perhaps, have been made earlier in the process).

So it could depend on the offer made and the perceived value by the shopper.

For price-focused shoppers, free shipping is a must.

For convenience-focused shoppers, though, it matters less.

Very well said – it depends on the customer profile. Some of them calculate total costs and compare it with other retailers.

MOST of them NOT.

How to satisfy both of them? I run a test recently with a famous brand names perfume website.

Instead of only offering free shipping, I offer customers free shipping for every order (no minimum) and for every additional product they buy a good discount. (the more they buy the better the discount is)

The scheme is:
free shipping
buy 2 – x$off
buy 3 – y$off where 2x<3y

Do you have other suggestions? I’d love to hear them.

We have got some big improvements for clients by going with free shipping.

http://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2008/11/10/online-promotional-dilemma/

However, you would be shocked how many people are not as savvy as you. I have brought this up repeatedly to Amazon since they made changes to their Seller Central Market place.

Have a look at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0016J1NEQ/ref=dp_olp_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1226513112&sr=8-6

You’ll see the second listing is $1.99 + $7.98 = $9.97.

Our listing on the top is $8.99 + $0 = $8.99

Amazon gives the second guy the “Low Item Price” checkmark. Not that this is wrong, it really is the “Low Item Price”, but it’s misleading because the overall price is higher.

Amazon and others contribute to merchants artificially pricing products low while jacking up shipping.

A smart consumer, such as yourself will see this, but you would be surprised how many people do not.

As a marketer I like the option of Free Shipping to draw in people, however I feel the overall price at checkout must be competitive or Free Shipping and other promos will only go so far.

Since then, our Overall and Shipping Costs scores improved dramatically on Shopzilla’s Point Of Sale Survey.

I believe the more simple you make it, the more consumers respond. Many in our industry have confusing free shipping promotions with minimums or coupons.

We opted to go free shipping across the board with no coupons or minimums for everyone and the results have exceeded our expectations (and our customers as well).