Offering Free Shipping in eCommerce

By Adam  |  30 Jul 2015 15:00:00

A recent study has shown that a large number of people say that they would be more likely to make an eCommerce purchase if free shipping were offered. This makes perfect sense if you think about it; when people buy from the shops they never have to pay for shipping and it's possible that this additional fee could push the price over the amount that a product would go for on the high street. People tend to go for online shops for the sake of convenience, and additional fees are not convenient.

So, if it is at all possible, you should think about offering free shipping on the products for sale on your own eCommerce website. I understand that you won't make as much money if you're covering the cost of a customer's shipping too, but have you considered that this might be more than made up for by an increase in sales? Free shipping might turn the people who silently lurk on your website into customers. But if you don't like the chances of that, you could try to be a little sneaky about it: you could offer free shipping on all of your products... But secretly raise the price of everything just a little so that it covers the cost of shipping too. This does create the risk that somebody will realise and complain that it is not really free shipping at all, but it's possible that nobody will notice (or care, if they do) and then when new customers come along to the website, all they'll see is free shipping.

The study also indicated that a lot of people are quite keen on 'next day deliveries' so, if you have it within your power/budget to make offers like that, it is certainly worth your consideration! The customers' experience on your website is key and the more appealing you can make your product the more likely they are to buy it. Hopefully this has given you something to think about and will help to drive sales on your own eCommerce website. But if you don't have an eCommerce website yet, sign up to Sellr now! It is completely free.