Now that November is underway, the holiday shopping season is in full effect. This year, online sales are likely to reach all-time high records. With each year, a growing number of consumers decide to utilize the internet for their holiday shopping needs. Is your business ready to handle the increased traffic to its website?
Bear in mind that people who like to shop online enjoy hunting down bargains. In many cases, a “bargain” is considered found when shipping charges are eliminated from the final costs of the purchases. If you’re looking to outdo your competition, you’d be wise to offer free shipping to your online shoppers.
Avoid cart abandonment.
Why do online shoppers fill up their virtual shopping carts with items and not follow through on completing their transactions? The short answer is shipping fees. Generally, the charges for shipping are perceived to make the costs of the purchased items too high. According to Joe Putnam on Rejoiner.com, an AlixPartners survey found that high delivery costs are among the main reasons online shoppers abandon their carts.
It discovered that 37 percent of customers choose not to order from an online retailer or other mail-order businesses because they need to see or touch the item before purchasing. That stat topped the charts. 36 percent said that the cost of delivery was too high – the second biggest reason for cart abandonment.
Strengthen your brand image.
People don’t just like to locate high-quality items. They like to support businesses they feel good about. For example, two different stores may offer the exact same item at the exact same price. However, only one of the two stores is involved in a holiday food drive. Which of the two stores do you think will attract the most attention? Free shipping is something that will help you to bolster your brand image.
“In the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer spending survey, nearly half of those surveyed (48.2 percent) named free shipping and shipping promotions as the top factor for choosing a retailer,” reports Maria Fagerland on Shipworks.com.
Attract bargain hunters.
As mentioned, savvy holiday shoppers are those that find the best prices for the items they covet. Consider the following scenario: A shopper locates an item from one company’s website for $39.99. For shipping, another $7.00 is added to the final sale. Meanwhile, on your company’s website, that same item is priced at $44.99. However, shipping is free. Which company do you think will make the sale?
“In many cases, shipping costs can greatly increase the final price paid for an item bought online,” writes Peter Roesler on Inc.com, “If an item costs $25 and the shipping costs are $5, the shipping costs have raised the price by 25 percent. Price savvy consumers on the internet are searching for ways to save money and as the various research survey shows, people turn to coupons and free shipping as the fastest way to cut their final costs.”
If you’ve yet to take advantage of the popularity of online shopping, please don’t hesitate to contact Divvia to learn all about our safe and secure e-commerce solution. Call us at 1-877-748-2884. You can also send us a message on our Contact Us page!
