How Free Shipping Day Benefits Merchants

While it is true that Free Shipping Day benefits everybody involved with online shopping from shoppers to delivery companies, it is the merchants that stand to gain the most. Let me explain.

In 2007 online shopping peaked on December 10 with $881 million in sales, while the heaviest spending period for consumers is the week before and the week after Christmas.

There is no reason that online shopping needs to peak 15 days before Christmas when the majority of holiday shopping dollars are spent so much closer to Christmas. Let’s face it, we are a country of procrastinators.

The big questions is, why does online shopping peak on December 10 rather than closer to Christmas? I believe that the closer we get to Christmas the more shoppers fear their orders will not arrive in time for the big day. This is why shoppers get in to their cars and head to the mall to shop.

With Free Shipping Day we can change the way shoppers think and how they shop. By having a SPECIAL day as late as December 18 where shoppers can order online from hundreds of stores that guarantee delivery by Christmas, shoppers will feel confident shopping online later into December.

Add to that SPECIAL day the guarantee of free shipping and it will be an even bigger hit with shoppers.

Instead of online shopping peaking on December 10, it could and should peak much later into December. Free Shipping Day has the potential to increase online sales by hundreds of millions of dollars every December.

For online sales to increase like this, we need complete buy in from merchants. Merchants need to promote Free Shipping Day just like they do Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They need to offer free shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas and tell their customers about it. Only then will shoppers start to feel confident shopping later into December.

The online shopping industry can benefit tremendously from Free Shipping Day. It’s up to the merchants to make it happen. So let’s make it happen.