V
% Free Shipping: When You Should Offer It and When You Shouldn’t Oberlo Skip to content Start selling online now with Shopify
visibility
675 views
thumb_up
30 likes
L
I’ll also provide suggestions on things you should consider before you offer free shipping, some interesting shipping stats, and more. Post Contents When should you offer free shipping You’ ve calculated the costs and can afford to When free ePacket shipping is offered by supplier Your competitors offer it You want to increase your number of orders You’ ve adjusted product costs to accommodate free shipping When shouldn’ t you offer free shipping You’ re trying to increase AOV so you need to set a threshold When you have low product margins You want to use it as a promotional tool When the shipping costs are too high You offer free returns instead Things to Consider Before You Offer Free Shipping Should You Offer Free Shipping – Statistics and Resources What do top brands do for shipping Should I offer free shipping a free shipping threshold or paid shipping How to Setup Free Shipping in Shopify Want to Learn More Start selling online now with Shopify Start your free trial
When should you offer free shipping
You’ ve calculated the costs and can afford to
To answer the ultimate question ‘should you offer free shipping,’ you’ll be required to do some math.The standard free shipping delivery option often takes months to reach a customer, which is bad for customer service. Sometimes, the supplier offers ePacket which may not be free but has a low cost.
thumb_up
25 likes
M
If the product is affordable, you can tack on the ePacket price and offer free shipping to your customers. In the image below ePacket costs $2.20 and the item costs $2.58/piece.
thumb_up
3 likes
E
You could charge $24.99 for this top which would give you enough room to spend money on advertising, pay for the cost of goods and make a profit while at an affordable price for the customer. Before using AliExpress, I used another dropshipper where the cost of shipping was higher than the cost of goods but not sustainable.
thumb_up
38 likes
S
For example, the goods cost roughly $8 and international shipping cost $16. This brings the total cost of goods to $24. Then when you add in the cost to acquire a customer via ads the cost is even higher.
thumb_up
34 likes
A
However, the market value of a standard mug, the product I was trying to sell, is nowhere near that price. Many buy mugs from Walmart or the dollar store for under $5. It wasn’t sustainable or profitable to offer free shipping in this situation.
thumb_up
25 likes
M
When free ePacket shipping is offered by supplier
If the supplier offers free ePacket shipping, you should offer free shipping to your customers. It’s unethical to charge for shipping when you’re not paying for shipping costs. If ePacket shipping costs are low and allow you to make a profit, you should offer free shipping to your customers as it would be affordable enough to include shipping in the product cost.
thumb_up
10 likes
H
Many products on AliExpress are shipped with ePacket delivery. Keep in mind that ePacket is only for a select number of countries.
thumb_up
28 likes
L
Typically, when ePacket is free it’s for the United States with low shipping costs available for other countries like Canada, Australia, the UK and more.
Your competitors offer it
If other brands in your niche are offering free shipping, you should offer it to stay competitive. However, even if they don’t offer free shipping, you might be able to have a competitive edge over competitors if you do.
thumb_up
36 likes
E
According to AdWeek, 81% of shoppers research before buying a product. They’ll also browse three stores before making that purchase. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you don’t have any competitors, because potential customers can easily find them.
thumb_up
38 likes
S
Remember: everyone has access to Google. Customers may be willing to pay more for your product if you offer free shipping and a competitor doesn’t but has a slightly lower product cost.
thumb_up
18 likes
T
Surprise fees can also increase abandoned carts. Browse several ecommerce websites in your niche.
thumb_up
16 likes
E
If most of them offer free shipping, you’re going to have to do it too. Let’s look at these two popular Canadian fashion brands. The two brands share a similar audience and their products are within the same price range.
thumb_up
34 likes
I
Both offer conditional free shipping. Suzy Shier offers free shipping on orders over $100 but offers a free blanket for online purchases. Dynamite offers free shipping on all orders over $50.
thumb_up
38 likes
I
While free gifts are always nice, the offer presented doesn’t appeal to everyone. Most people shopping for apparel would be interested in buying earrings or shoes but a blanket can be a bit of a stretch. Take into the account that the blanket is worth $25, the cost of free shipping is still higher at Suzy Shier than at Dynamite.
thumb_up
42 likes
A
Someone wanting to buy a gift for a friend would likely shop at Dynamite to buy a gift rather than Suzy Shier to avoid the shipping costs.
You want to increase your number of orders
Offering free shipping betters your odds of building a bigger customer base and having a higher volume of orders.
thumb_up
5 likes
G
With conditional shipping, you may be more likely to have a higher average order value (AOV). However, you can also increase your AOV with free shipping by having upsells or ‘free gift with purchase of two’ offers. When you offer free shipping, your product and price need to be exactly what the customer is looking for to make the purchase.
thumb_up
24 likes
E
If your product seems attractive to a customer and it’s at a fair price, you’ll be more likely to get a sale. When dropshipping, you can also benefit from increased profits.
thumb_up
41 likes
R
Since many of the the products on AliExpress have affordable product costs and shipping rates, you’re in an advantageous position to generate a higher revenue and profit than if you were dropshipping from elsewhere.
You’ ve adjusted product costs to accommodate free shipping
If you need to pay for ecommerce shipping, you can easily include the shipping cost into your product cost to avoid affecting your margins.
thumb_up
29 likes
I
By incorporating the shipping cost into your product cost, you’ll still be able to generate a profit while paying for advertising costs and any other associated fees. With most dropshipping tools, you can easily bundle the prices (cost of goods + shipping fees) into one retail price without giving the customer sticker shock. Sticker shock is essentially when a customer is shocked by a high price or a drastically increased price.
thumb_up
22 likes
Z
When shouldn’ t you offer free shipping
You’ re trying to increase AOV so you need to set a threshold
You shouldn’t offer free shipping when your focus is on increasing the average order value (AOV) in your ecommerce store. For example, if the products you sell are very affordable for customers, you might want to encourage people to buy more products so you can have a higher profit.
thumb_up
47 likes
J
You’ll still give customers free shipping but there’s a catch. The customer must spend a certain amount of money before they can access free shipping. You’ll need to experiment to see what works best for your store.
thumb_up
3 likes
L
However, common thresholds include $25, $35, $50 and $100. Keep in mind that you should also test to see if you make more profit with one of the conditional free shipping offers or with free shipping on all products.
thumb_up
16 likes
B
When you have low product margins
If you’re dropshipping with AliExpress, you shouldn’t have a problem with low product margins unless you’re charging too little for products. However, if you’re dropshipping with an American dropshipping company, you may run into the issue where your margins aren’t sustainable.
thumb_up
36 likes
A
In this case, offering free shipping to your customers can put your business in debt. Even if you were to increase your product prices to be able to offer free shipping, customers may find your product cost too high and not buy altogether.
thumb_up
4 likes
N
Many print-on-demand dropshipping businesses make it nearly impossible for a store to offer free shipping to their customer. Store owners would need to offer a conditional free shipping but the cost of goods may already be too high for a customer.
thumb_up
39 likes
L
You want to use it as a promotional tool
You shouldn’t offer free shipping to your customers if you plan on using it as a promotional tool. For example, if you offer free shipping year round you can’t tell customers ‘free shipping this weekend only’ to lure them in. Another case where you might use free shipping as a promotional tool is if you have a loyalty rewards program where only loyal customers get free shipping.
thumb_up
11 likes
G
Amazon does this with Amazon Prime allowing customers to get free same day shipping if they sign up for their membership. When customers get used to getting free shipping year round they need to be lured in to buy products for another reason such as a buy one get one free sale or a steep discount on a product collection.
When the shipping costs are too high
Another time when you shouldn’t offer free shipping is when the shipping costs are too high.
thumb_up
35 likes
K
Fortunately, with suppliers who use ePacket, the shipping costs are typically only a couple of dollars. However, many entrepreneurs or dropshippers may have high shipping costs that make it impossible to offer free shipping. Sometimes, even offering conditional free shipping is difficult.
thumb_up
7 likes
E
For example, if a store offers ‘free shipping on orders over $100’ often times it’s due to expensive shipping costs. Shipping costs are also typically high when they’re delivered in a short timeframe.
thumb_up
33 likes
M
For example, when products are delivered within 7 days they’re often express which increases the cost. With ePacket, it takes up to 30 days for a product to arrive which drastically lowers the shipping cost. If a business were to guarantee shipping within a week, their shipping costs would be too high to sustain the business.
thumb_up
36 likes
S
You offer free returns instead
Some store owners may choose to offer free returns instead of free shipping. Free returns would likely cost less than free shipping as the number of dropshipping returns is always going to be lower than the number of purchases. However, offering free returns is especially appealing to those who buy apparel and other fashion related items.
thumb_up
49 likes
A
The biggest disadvantage to buying clothes online is you won’t know how it’ll fit or look on you. According to CNBC, offering customers free returns can help boost sales by 357%. The article continues by mentioning that customers are also more likely to spend on a store that offers free returns.
thumb_up
42 likes
G
So instead of investing in free shipping, some store owners may choose to offer free returns to their customers.
Things to Consider Before You Offer Free Shipping
Are you charging enough for your products? You need to run the numbers to ensure your product price is sustainable for your business.
thumb_up
1 likes
M
If shipping costs aren’t free is your business able to afford them with your profit. Will you still be able to make a profit after all costs are considered?
thumb_up
19 likes
R
There are several financial factors to take into account when offering free shipping. Does your product price give you the freedom to hire a team, pay business expenses, pay the cost of goods, pay taxes, cover the cost of advertising and free shipping. After all those costs are paid is your business still making money.
thumb_up
20 likes
S
How will you use free shipping as a marketing tool? Think of your long-term marketing strategy.
thumb_up
34 likes
O
Do you want to use free shipping year round or during certain times of the year such as holidays and sales. Determine your goals: increasing average order value, increasing number of orders, increasing number of return customers, increasing profit, etc.
Should You Offer Free Shipping – Statistics and Resources
According to Red Door, when they offered a free shipping threshold, such as ‘free shipping on orders over $75’ they were able to increase orders by 90%.
thumb_up
1 likes
B
According to Marketing Land, they found that 9 out of 10 customers were incentivized to do their shopping online when offered free shipping. They also found that about a third of of online shoppers were making purchases weekly. Thanks to ShivarWeb, you can now use this handy Free Shipping & Profit Calculator to help you determine whether or not your store should offer free shipping.
thumb_up
35 likes
C
According to David Bell, people find a free shipping offer that saves them $6.99 more appealing to them than a product discount of $10 despite saving more money with the latter option.
What do top brands do for shipping
Now that you have some insight on whether or not you should offer free shipping, let’s take a look at what other brands do when it comes to shipping.
thumb_up
6 likes
J
Do top brands offer free shipping, conditional shipping or paid shipping? Walmart offers conditional shipping.
thumb_up
8 likes
N
Customers only qualify for free shipping if they spend $50 or more. They likely do this to increase the average order value since many items on Walmart’s online store are very affordable.
thumb_up
21 likes
V
Best Buy offers free shipping for special events. For the holiday season, they offer free shipping on all orders.
thumb_up
39 likes
J
Since many of the items on their online store are expensive they likely have high margins and can afford to offer free shipping. They may also do this to boost sales during the holiday season and return to paid shipping the rest of the year, using it as a marketing tool. ASOS offers conditional free shipping.
thumb_up
50 likes
S
International customers who spend £22.56 or more can enjoy free shipping. This likely helps reduce shipping costs as shipping internationally usually costs more than shipping within your own country when you carry inventory. Ralph Lauren offers free shipping when customers use a discount code.
thumb_up
29 likes
E
Also, they take it up a notch by offering free gift boxes during the holiday season to customers which is a nice little bonus. Disney offers promotional free shipping to customers.
thumb_up
19 likes
A
With a special discount code, customers can occasionally get free shipping on any product. They use it as a marketing tool.
thumb_up
39 likes
S
Should I offer free shipping a free shipping threshold or paid shipping
The best way to answer the question ‘Should you offer free shipping?’ is to test it on your store. Until you look at data from your store’s customers, you won’t really know whether or not to offer free shipping. Unfortunately, you can’t run a multivariate or A/B split test for shipping on Shopify.
thumb_up
46 likes
L
However, the easiest way to find out if free shipping or conditional free shipping works best on your store is to try one condition for a couple weeks and compare it to another condition shortly after. For example, you offer free shipping on all products and run an experiment until you reach 100 customers. Once you hit 100 customers, you can run a second test where you offer free shipping on orders over $35 (or whatever number makes the most sense for your store) and you collect the data from those 100 customers.
thumb_up
7 likes
S
Most multivariate or A/B tests can be easily done in Google Analytics but performing this sort of test on Shopify can’t be easily done so a manual test would have to be done.
How to Setup Free Shipping in Shopify
If you decide to provide your customers with free shipping, you’ll need to follow the steps below on your Shopify store.
thumb_up
33 likes
I
First, you’ll want to view Settings in your Shopify backend and look for the Shipping section. After clicking to the next page, you’ll need to add your business’ address since you’ll have different suppliers with different addresses. If you’re going to offer free international shipping, here are a few steps to follow: Under Domestic and Rest of the World, you’ll want to select ‘Priced Based Rates’ Under Add Rate, you’ll need to add a name and set your price threshold.
thumb_up
11 likes
G
![For example, for free shipping with purchase over $150 you’d add a minimum price of ‘150.00.’ If you’re giving your customers ‘free shipping’ you’ll add ‘Free Shipping’ under name and select the box under rate with a rate amount of $0.00. Start selling online now with Shopify Start your free trial
<h2>Want to Learn More </h2> How I launched my eCommerce store in less than 30 minutes (with products) [VIDEO] What Is ePacket Delivery?](https://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?q=For+example%2C+for+free+shipping+with+purchase+over+%24150+you%26%23x2019%3Bd+add+a+minimum+price+of+%26%23x2018%3B150.00.%26%23x2019%3B+If+you%26%23x2019%3Bre+giving+your+customers+%26%23x2018%3Bfree+shipping%26%23x2019%3B+you%26%23x2019%3Bll+add+%26%23x2018%3BFree+Shipping%26%23x2019%3B+under+name+and+select+the+box+under+rate%26%23xA0%3Bwith+a+rate+amount+of+%240.00.+Start+selling+online+now+with+Shopify+Start+your+free+trial+%0A+%3Ch2%3EWant+to+Learn+More+%3C%2Fh2%3E+How+I+launched+my+eCommerce+store+in+less+than+30+minutes+%28with+products%29+%5BVIDEO%5D%26%23xA0%3BWhat+Is+ePacket+Delivery%3F&pq=15.1)
For example, for free shipping with purchase over $150 you’d add a minimum price of ‘150.00.’ If you’re giving your customers ‘free shipping’ you’ll add ‘Free Shipping’ under name and select the box under rate with a rate amount of $0.00. Start selling online now with Shopify Start your free trial
Want to Learn More
How I launched my eCommerce store in less than 30 minutes (with products) [VIDEO] What Is ePacket Delivery?
thumb_up
44 likes
L
10 Online Stores to Use as Inspiration for Your First Store How To Select Dropshipping Suppliers Should you offer free shipping on your store? Let us know what has worked best for you in the comments below!
thumb_up
42 likes
N
Start selling online now with Shopify Start your free trial 14-day trial No credit card
Related
19 Powerful Ecommerce Statistics That Will Guide Your Strategy in 2021
Data is incredible. With it, you can make informed strategic decisions that will pay dividends in the future.
thumb_up
50 likes
L
Without i… by Thomas J Law Build your business Article
10 WhatsApp Statistics Every Marketer Should Know in 2022 Infographic
If you’re anything like me, you probably can’t remember the last day you went without using WhatsApp. Chances are that … by Ying Lin Marketing ArticleHow to Start a Reseller Business Tips and Ideas for 2022
A reseller business can be a great option for first-time entrepreneurs. But just like any other online business idea, a… by Nicole Martins Ferreira Business ideas Article Oberlo uses cookies to provide necessary site functionality and improve your experience.
thumb_up
16 likes
I
By using our website, you agree to our privacy policy. Reject Accept
thumb_up
48 likes
Similar Discussions
-
Looking back at when Alex Rodriguez gushed over a 21 year old clip of him mentioning Jennifer Lopez as his dream date on The Tonight Show
-
Disney Dreamlight Valley Crafting Guide Can you build it? Yes you can
-
ZM W vs IR W Dream11 Prediction Fantasy Cricket Tips Today s Playing 11 Player Stats Pitch Report for ICC Women s T20 World Cup Qualifier Semi final 1
-
VCT vs NSW Dream11 Prediction Fantasy Cricket Tips Today s Playing 11 Player Stats Pitch Report for Australia Domestic One Day Cup Match 1
-
ANT vs GEN Dream11 Prediction Fantasy Cricket Tips Today s Playing 11 Player Stats Pitch Report for ECS T10 Belgium 2022 Quarter final 1
-
6 Hand Exercises for Multiple Sclerosis Everyday Health
-
Old Henry Ending Explained What Was Henry s Fate? The News Pocket
-
Mushoku Tensei Episode 18 Spoilers Recap Release Date and Time The News Pocket
-
Timberwolves Anthony Edwards Racks up 30 points in loss CBSSports com
-
DSSSB Recruitment 2022 TGT PGT 547 Posts Apply Online
-
MYTF1 TV en Direct et Replay APK Download for Android
-
AlKhaleej Takaful My Book Qata APK Download for Android
-
Tiny Alien Ep3 Free Escaping APK Download for Android
-
Visas Voyages Algérie APK Download for Android
-
SSC Sure Success Center APK Download for Android
-
The Flooded City APK Download for Android
-
BotCop APK Download for Android
-
Une peinture r alis e par le roi Charles III vendue dix fois plus cher que l estimation aux ench res Vente Aux Ench res Royaume Uni
-
Bar a Joan Laporta rend hommage Lionel Messi Football Espagne
-
Jorge Javier recuerda por primera vez en televisi n c mo fue el ictus que sufri Jorge Javier
-
El oscuro vaticinio de la inteligencia brit nica sobre Rusia Se est quedando sin municiones y sin amigos Rusia Ucrania
-
El neuroma de Morton que sufre la reina Letizia Se resuelve con plantillas o requiere cirug a? Neuroma Morton
-
Eleven Warriors Roundtable A Date With Iowa Kicks Off the Second Half of Ohio State s Regular Season Slate
-
Car found buried in Atherton yard cadaver dogs possibly detect remains Fox 13 News
-
Los colegios electorales de Brasil ya disponen de las urnas para elegir entre Lula o Bolsonaro Llegan Urnas
-
Monty Lopez drama with Yung Gravy amp Addison Rae s mom explained Dexerto
-
How to Play Third Person Mode in Modern Warfare 2 Beta
-
Two Point Campus How to unlock campuses The Nerd Stash
-
MPs debate puppies amp kittens because it s not like anything else is going on
-
The Biggest Dropshipping Niches in the Biggest Dropshipping Markets