Free Shipping: the future?

[Dawg]

I saw this site (http://www.freeshippingon.com/)flagged up today. It basically points people towards ecomm sites which have free shipping, which I see punters loving. Will there be, (or is there now), a move towards building all shipping costs into the item price, and/or into general cost of business?
I lose on shipping but am happy to wear it as part of my business plan; would this work in other sectors?

(And, if there is a move towards including all shipping costs will the inevitable price increases be more than cost + inflation? Will people take the opportunity to pad, using "inflation" as a risky excuse?)

[alex4orne]

Tough one Dawg. I have free shipping when you spend over £100, but then everything on my new site is going to be less then a tenner so they would have to go some to get the free shipping.

[She Says]

I can see the appeal of free shipping but is that really the most important thing? I mean, there is no such thing as free shipping really, so obviously the shipping costs need to be built into the price. This is fine when customers are buying single items but when customers want to buy multiple items from the one retailer with free shipping, they are in fact payig a premium for that free shipping.
Also I think perhaps "Delivery Included" is a better way of putting it ;)

[Subbynet]

The savvy people will know that no such thing exists as free shipping, its just been added into the price instead of priced seperately.

[Dawg]

I can see the appeal of free shipping but is that really the most important thing? I mean, there is no such thing as free shipping really, so obviously the shipping costs need to be built into the price. This is fine when customers are buying single items but when customers want to buy multiple items from the one retailer with free shipping, they are in fact payig a premium for that free shipping.
Also I think perhaps "Delivery Included" is a better way of putting it ;)

I see your point, and can't disagree. But aren't you coming from a sellers POV, rather than a buyers POV? I think buyers will like 'free shipping' more than 'delivery included', even when they know it is the same; it's visceral, it's emotional; 'free' is stronger than 'included'.
The basic thing is: are we all going to be bounced into claiming that shipping is free? (And on multiple item buys will discounts on total price be given so smarter buyers will gain back the premium you mention?)

[Astaroth]

Depending on your source of customers you need to consider the impact on price comparison sites as not all factor in p&p in their rankings so you can instantly push yourself lower in the ranks.

I think what is important is making it easy for someone to see the total cost of their order without having to sign up/ log in/ give personal details etc

[Subbynet]

Depending on your source of customers you need to consider the impact on price comparison sites as not all factor in p&p in their rankings so you can instantly push yourself lower in the ranks.

I think what is important is making it easy for someone to see the total cost of their order without having to sign up/ log in/ give personal details etc

Good thinking - very true...

Also, if you have free delivery, how can you entice people to spend over the average sale value? You'd lose the hook of something free wouldn't you?

[1-4-me]

We offer free shipping and it does not seem to stop people placing large orders.

[Astaroth]

But do you know if they would spend an extra £X if you had a threshold for free shipping instead? Without testing it is difficult to know exactly what is best for your customer base

[SillyJokes]

We have free shipping at £40 spend.

It definately has an effect with lots of people seeking to achieve free shipping.

If all shipping was free I think our average order size would go down and it would end up being very costly shipping for us. You have to reward the customer for being kind enough to spend more with you i.e. free shipping or a free gift.

[green mum]

If I'm buying something on the web I look at the total purchase price including any delivery costs - hopefully any sensible customers would do the same. They'd be silly to buy something at £9.99 with free delivery when you could buy it for £7.99 somewhere else with £1.50 postage.

[Subbynet]

If I'm buying something on the web I look at the total purchase price including any delivery costs - hopefully any sensible customers would do the same. They'd be silly to buy something at £9.99 with free delivery when you could buy it for £7.99 somewhere else with £1.50 postage.

People really are silly.

I see an experiment on TV, where two women tried selling Cakes for 50p each, and had hardly no buyers... Next they repriced the cakes £1 each, but BOGOF... And had plenty of customers.

Psychology, its a strange thing...:rolleyes:

[quikshop]

People really are silly.

I see an experiment on TV, where two women tried selling Cakes for 50p each, and had hardly no buyers... Next they repriced the cakes £1 each, but BOGOF... And had plenty of customers.

Psychology, its a strange thing...:rolleyes:

Excellent post :D

Free shipping as mentioned earlier is not in fact free shipping, it just means the shipping costs are added to or absorbed by the product price and profit margin.

It is however an excellent hook to encourage ecommerce shop visitors to become customers (http://www.internetretailer.biz/partner/converting_ecommerce_shop_visitors_into_customers. aspx?qsaid=199), and one of our shop owners running www.totsntoys.co.uk (http://www.totsntoys.co.uk) uses it to great effect.

I tried explaining to my siblings that the 'free' toy from McDonalds wasn't actually free but as I was paying for the meals anyway it was in fact free and I lost the argument :rolleyes:

[Rhyl Lightworks]

We changed to free shipping about 2 months ago, and have seen the average cost of orders go down, but the no. of orders go up quite a bit. Overall, the total amount taken by the site has increased slightly.
From a buyer's point of view, I am fed up of sites seemingly trying to hide their shipping costs. It can be difficult to find these, and I am a convert to 'free shipping' (which in effect means shipping costs built into the cost of the product).
It should be possible to build in discounts for larger orders, as well, although I haven't got round to this yet. However we do say customers can ring us for discounts if they are buying more than 3 products.
Barrie

[She Says]

I see your point, and can't disagree. But aren't you coming from a sellers POV, rather than a buyers POV? I think buyers will like 'free shipping' more than 'delivery included', even when they know it is the same; it's visceral, it's emotional; 'free' is stronger than 'included'.
The basic thing is: are we all going to be bounced into claiming that shipping is free? (And on multiple item buys will discounts on total price be given so smarter buyers will gain back the premium you mention?)

I was looking at it from both a buyer and seller POV. Transparency is the new green :D