Free Shipping Continues To Be Every Retailer's Frenemy

October 7th, 2013

Marcus Johnson

With contributors:

Patti Freeman Evans , Rebecca Katz

Summary

Shipping can be seen as both a friend and an enemy to retailers, incentivizing customers to transact via free offers on the one hand while incurring hard costs on the other. Unfortunately, retailers won't resolve their conundrums around shipping costs in a hurry, as companies like Amazon.com and Zappos.com continue to set high customer expectations when it comes to shipping offers. This report includes data on consumer shipping expectations, a benchmark of various retailers' shipping offers, and recommendations to online merchants for coping with shipping costs while driving sales.

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