Bambang $ Hadi

The numbers of shoppers turning to the internet for their

shopping has been going up year after year. At the same time,

online retailers have been working hard to come up with ways

to turn those browsers into buyers. One tactic that both

retailers and consumers seem to like is free shipping offers.

There are several types of free shipping offers to choose

from, and once a retailer decides to offer free shipping, they

need to promote that offer to their customers. The purpose of

this article is to inform online retailers about the potential

benefits of including free shipping as part of their online

marketing strategy.

It has been shown with website statistics and opinion polls

more than half of consumers are more likely to shop online

with a retailer that offers free shipping than one that

doesn’t. There used to be a time when online shoppers didn’t

really factor in the price of shipping into their purchasing

decisions. With the recent rise in shipping cost, and more

experienced online shoppers, the cost of shipping is now plays

a major role in consumers deciding which website to shop at,

and whether to shop online at all. It is now common to see

online retailers offering free shipping on large items like

big screen TVs. The one downside to offering free shipping is

that the retailer is stuck picking up the bill. This is what

led internet retailers to develop several different types of

free shipping offer.

There seems to be three different types of free shipping

offers that are popular with online retailers. A small amount

of retailers offer free shipping on everything in their store.

This definitely encourages people to buy, but for this to make

sense they need to be selling items where the profit margin

far exceeds the price of shipping. The second and most popular

type of free shipping offer involves a set minimum purchase

amount. This ensures that the retailer’s shipping costs are

covered, encourages shoppers to spend more, and the shopper is

happy because they are still getting a deal. The third way

retailers can offer free shipping is to only offer free

shipping on certain items. This can be effective for retailers

who want to encourage shoppers to buy certain items that will

still be profitable even when the cost of shipping is factored

in.

After a retailer has chosen what type of free shipping offer

they want to offer, they have to let their customers know

about the offer. There are several ways to promote a free

shipping offer. The single most important way to do this is to

advertise this on your home page. I recommend going further

than this and making a place on every page of your website to

promote your free shipping offer, this way it will act as a

reminder throughout a visitors entire shopping experience.

Many retailers are also promoting their free shipping offers

outside the confines of their own website on their banner ads,

Adword campaigns, and third party websites. Promotion is

important, because a a free shipping offer that no one know

about isn’t going to do anyone any good.

The benefit of including free shipping as part of an online

marketing campaign is an almost guaranteed increase in sales.

The challenge for internet retailers is to choose the right

type of free shipping offer that encourages sales, but does

not eat into a companies profits. Proper promotion of a free

shipping offer will play a major role in its success. I

recommend that every internet retailer should consider testing

out a free shipping offers