Free Shipping a Must for Online Retailers
A brand’s shipping experience really is an important factor to consider if businesses want to retain customers. A report from BigCommerce concludes that “while ecommerce and shipping have a symbiotic relationship, shipping often becomes an afterthought for online retailers. For customers, however, a brand’s shipping experience can carry just as much weight as the product it sells and how it is marketed to them.”
A whopping 77 percent of global survey respondents have abandoned an online purchase due to unsatisfactory shipping options, while 58 percent have actually stopped shopping with particular retailers altogether as a result of a negative shipping experience.
It would appear that mass adoption of Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping and similar offers from Walmart and Target have changed consumer expectations.
In the past 12 months, 84% of global survey respondents “have made a purchase from an online retailer specifically because it offered free shipping, and half of respondents said that they avoid shopping with retailers that do not offer delivery at no-cost”.
While free shipping might seem like a sacrifice too far for some retailers, it can actually be a sacrifice worth making. “Free shipping can make online shoppers feel like they’re getting a deal – even if it means spending more to get it,” the study said.
In the last 12 months, 84 percent of global consumers have added items to their cart in order to receive free shipping – a number that goes up to nearly 90 percent and 85 percent for Millennial and Gen Z consumers who “have added items to their cart solely to hit a minimum order threshold for free shipping.”
Interestingly and alarmingly, the study also found that consumers aren’t currently too concerned in the effects ecommerce shipping has on the environment. However, “they are open to making changes to ease some of the burden - as long as the change requires very little effort from them.” Sixty percent of global consumers already recycle packaging from an online shipment ‘often’ or ‘almost always’, and nearly one-third of consumers would be open to driving to a physical store to pick up an online shipment rather than have it delivered directly to their house. But a shocking 29 percent “have no interest in making any changes to the shipping process to help offset its carbon footprint on the environment.”
Credit: BigCommerce, Gregory Noblin