Technology

Offer free shipping to boost retail ecommerce sales without going broke

There’s no question that offering free shipping will increase your conversion rates online, but how can you offer it in retail e-commerce without going broke? If you’re not careful with your approach, offering free shipping will kill your profit margins and, very soon, you may find yourself operating your business at a loss.

However, there are many ways that you can make this profitable in retail e-commerce. By following some tried and tested techniques by leading ecommerce companies offering a large amount of free shipping on their sales, you will be able to maximize your profits while increasing many sales and new customer acquisitions with your competitive advantage. Companies that offer free shipping on their products eventually see a 15-30% increase in their net profits.

When offering, you need to think carefully about the risks versus the potential rewards for your e-commerce business. Free shipping is generally a psychological persuasion strategy that works best for retail e-commerce. You will have a positive impact on your order value, quantities, customer loyalty, and your value proposition as a business.

Here are some strategies on how you can offer free shipping on your ecommerce store and remain profitable:

Set a sending threshold

If you want to offer free shipping and still operate within the margins, you must increase your threshold. You have to “force” your customers to spend more money on your ecommerce store to qualify, which in turn leads to a massive increase in your sales volumes as well as profitability. For example, give them, if the order value exceeds Rs 300 or more in your store. You can even apply multiple shipping thresholds for multiple product categories. For example, spend more than 500 rupees on vegetables and fruits or 1000 rupees on bakery products and get free.

Offer if they are willing to wait

If the customer agrees to slower shipping, which is often cheaper, then you can offer it for free on certain purchases and shipping limits and still be profitable. For example, if you normally deliver branded clothing within 24 hours with additional shipping and delivery charges, you can offer if the customer is willing to wait three or more days for their orders.

Offer them for regular customers

Offering free shipping for repeat customers will build long-term customer loyalty that is essential to the survival of your business. This will be particularly profitable if you sell high-value products to your customers.

Offer free shipping for customer referrals

This is a classic case of killing two birds with one stone; sell your products to a customer while purchasing new ones. If you want to turn your customers into walking and talking lead generators as well as repeat buyers of your products, you can offer them free shipping every time they refer someone to buy your products.

Offer if you subscribe to a weekly shipping plan

One of the benefits for a retail ecommerce store is having a fixed weekly shipping plan. Products like fruits, vegetables, and groceries are required on a daily basis and customers often buy in bulk and shop weekly. So here is a great opportunity to convert them to a subscription plan with this hack and still save a lot of money.

Offer on slow moving products

If you have products that have been in storage in your store for months, you can offer them. It is best to do this on products with wider margins so that you can absorb the cost of shipping.

Offer on special days

The holidays always experience a sales boom and you can further increase sales and build customer loyalty by offering shipping on all products purchased on a specific day.

Offer if customers download a mobile app

The mobile app is a great platform for turning your unique customers into repeat customers. So free shipping can be a way to promote your ecommerce mobile app for retail stores. You can provide free shipping when customers download and use apps to purchase products from your store.

So these are some of the best ways to offer shipping without going broke. Are you a dealer? Do you use any shipping tricks to improve your sales? Share your ideas with us by commenting below.

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