Free Shipping v Fast Shipping/Delivery
It’s a regularly asked and often deliberated over question, “Should we offer Free Shipping”?
And, there is no right or wrong answer. It often depends on the type of business you’re in and the type and value of products sold.
From your customer’s point-of-view, however, free shipping can be a big factor but your decision is how and when does it make sense for you to offer it?
Increased sales with free shipping?
Will an increase in sales justify the cost that you incur when you offer free shipping?
There is some evidence to suggest that consumers will often make the decision to purchase when free shipping is offered even where the actual cost of goods are higher than elsewhere and the value of free shipping offered might not save on purchasing on a competitor site not offering a free delivery option.
Or, should you offer it at all?
Is offering Fast Shipping and other options real alternatives?
When it comes to order fulfillment both same-day delivery and click & collect are increasing seen as alternatives and do offer more choice for consumers. But, how do they impact sales, order values and on your conversion rate?
Only you can decide the impact and using tools such as Google Analytics can help you make that judgement but the infographic below tends to indicate that consumers prefer free shipping and are prepared to wait a good number of days for delivery with 23+% prepared to wait 8 days and more!
