About Free Shipping Day

Before the U.S. recession hit in 2007, the phrase "Free Shipping Day" didn't exist in the national vocabulary. By Christmas Eve in 2010, it had earned a place alongside perennial heavyweights Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Not bad for an event built in under two weeks and, fittingly, gives procrastinators hope for yuletide savings.

Free Shipping Day is a one-day, online-shopping event when thousands of merchants offer free shipping with delivery by Christmas Eve. Now in its fourth year, Free Shipping Day comes on Friday, December 16, near the tail-end of the shopping season.

History
Luke Knowles - who, along with is wife, created the popular year-round free shipping opportunities website FreeShipping.org in 2007 - hatched the idea for Free Shipping Day in two very hectic weeks before the event in 2008. In an abrupt brainstorm, he thought merchants would relish the opportunity to extend the online holiday shopping season, which is fast becoming the preferred mode of buying for those who dread crowded malls and rainchecks.

Knowles understood last-minute purchases are as much a part of the holiday season as eggnog and poinsettias. Yet since the advent of online shopping, consumers have seen December 11 as the final day to order gifts or risk having them come after Christmas Day.

Free Shipping Day shifted this paradigm with a simple - yet often overlooked - concept: give consumers what they want in a timely, convenient and affordable fashion. In the digital arena, this means free shipping with a guaranteed arrival date. Knowles points to recent stats from a survey that show 90% of consumers spend more when offered free delivery, while nearly half will abandon a shopping cart if met with high fees.

Despite the relatively short history of Free Shipping Day, Knowles' philosophy has propelled it into the national spotlight. And what a history it has been: In just three years, Free Shipping Day has managed to dethrone the king of all holiday shopping events: Black Friday.

Results
In 2010, Free Shipping Day blew past its 35-year-old sibling by nearly $300 million in online sales. Not only did it shake up the holiday monarchy - it earned a place in the record books while doing so. The $954 million spent across the Internet on December 17 made it the third heaviest day of online shopping in history, an increase of nearly 60% percent over the previous year.

While laudable, the total dollar amounts only tell half the story. Merchants are the driving force behind the success of Free Shipping Day and each year the number of registered stores more than doubles. For the 2010 event, over 1,750 stores registered with the official Free Shipping Day site, attracting nearly 313,000 visits in a 24-hour period. The names span every corner of cyberspace, from heavy-hitters like JCPenney and Lands' End to niche designers and Etsy artisans.

Attention
Equally impressive is the media attention Free Shipping Day continues to attract. The event has been featured in every format - video, audio, print and online - by trend-setting outfits such as The New York Times, "O" Magazine, Woman's Day, Fox News and dozens more. Along with national publications, hundreds of regional newspapers and broadcasts latched onto the day as a sensible, consumer-friendly way to fill holiday wish lists.

Although Free Shipping Day continues to evolve each holiday season, Knowles is confident it will only grow in prominence as demand for free shipping becomes overwhelming. Consumers have made their intentions clear: Like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day is here to stay.