Why Offering Free Shipping Is A Holiday Season Must

In our last blog, we highlighted the fact that in order to make the most out of the final two weeks before Christmas, retailers need to advertise the things that make their stores unique. One of our tips was to highlight your shipping policies. It goes without saying that, at this time of year, time is of the essence. Especially since we are now less than two weeks away from Christmas, it’s important for your shoppers to know that what they order from your store will arrive in time for the big day.

In addition, the joy of not having to pay for shipping cannot be understated. If it doesn’t hurt your bottom line, you’ll definitely want to consider adding “free shipping” as a marketing feature on your website.

It will increase your number of orders.

When customers see “free shipping” as a feature on your website, it encourages them to spend more. After all, by saving money on shipping, they’ll be able to afford an additional item or two. By offering free shipping, you’ll be able to sell more products in each of your transactions. On Oberlo.ca, Nicole Martins Ferreira discusses.

“Offering free shipping betters your odds of building a bigger customer base and having a higher volume of orders,” she writes, “With conditional shipping, you may be more likely to have a higher average order value (AOV). However, you can also increase your AOV with free shipping by having upsells or ‘free gift with purchase of two’ offers.”

Your customers want it.

Each year, during the busy holiday shopping season,history tends to repeat itself. Black Friday and Cyber Monday have proven to be the biggest shopping days of the year once again. And, on CrazyEgg.com, Jeremy Smith explains that during the 2016 holiday season, the most popular promotion was free shipping. The trend continues. He reveals some survey statistics as proof.

“A full 39% of all retailers surveyed stated that free shipping would be their marketing tool of choice,” he points out, “Another group of e-commerce retailers stated that ‘free shipping…is the most effective promotion they can offer.’”

It will keep you competitive.

Don’t assume that your competitors don’t realize that free shipping is a huge selling feature. By not adding free shipping as a selling feature, you stand the chance of losing customers to your competitors.There’s no question that holiday shoppers will look to save money in any way they can.

“If other brands in your niche are offering free shipping, you should offer it to stay competitive,” says Ferreira, “However,even if they don’t offer free shipping, you might be able to have a competitive edge over competitors if you do…Customers may be willing to pay more for your product if you offer free shipping and a competitor doesn’t but has a slightly lower product cost. Surprise fees can also increase abandoned carts.”

Offering free shipping will certainly help for your online sales to be strong in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Are you working with a safe and secure e-commerce solution? If not, Canadian POS can get you all set up! For more information, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.