Free Shipping Day
If you are bent on shopping online, this is good news, indeed. While many, many brands are offering free shipping this year, the idea of a whole day dedicated to free shipping only 6 days before the actual Christmas holiday, makes me sit up and take notice. I've procrastinated a bit and I bet I realize on the 16th that I need to get another gift for someone. Free shipping day will make it on my calendar, for sure.
They even have a blog! Well, they have a page designated as a blog, and it's set up as a blog, but it's not a blog. It's a broadcast tool. Oh well.
If you want to participate, they have ready made badges, also.
Here's the story in a nutshell – visit their about page for a graph and more information:
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.
What do you think of this idea? Is it necessary? If you sell online, do you offer free shipping all the time or are you offering it this month? Will you take part in free shipping on the 16th – as a vendor or a buyer? I really like the list of companies participating – see image below. It means I can go to this site, find the store I love or want to purchase stuff in, and take care of my business quickly – with free shipping at the end.
Here's some information from the free shipping day site:
Free Shipping Day 2011
On Friday, December 16, more than 2,000 participating merchants will offer free shipping with delivery by Christmas Eve in the contiguous United States.
