Analysis of the latest trends in ecommerce fulfillment. Includes over 20 charts, expert analysis on top U.S. shipping carriers and how their finances impact retailers, and breakdowns of shipping, returns, and omnichannel offerings among retailers in the Top 1000
Consumers want their purchases to arrive as fast as possible and don’t want to pay for shipping. Retailers’ desire to please the shopper presents a challenge: how to make a profit. For that reason, free shipping usually comes with some limitations. Those can include dollar thresholds that require orders to meet a specific value before the retailer waives shipping fees.
In addition to cost and speed, consumers care about certainty. In a June 2019 Internet Retailer survey conducted by Bizrate Insights of 1,052 consumers, 44.0% of online shoppers said they had not completed an order because it wouldn’t arrive soon enough. Another 20.0% abandoned an order because the delivery date was unclear. Also, 88% of online shoppers have used tracking to check their order status.
Retailers in the 2019 Internet Retailer Top 1000 use various strategies to keep up with ever-increasing consumer expectations. Those include free shipping, fast shipping, free returns, buy online pick up in stores (BOPIS) and incentive/loyalty programs.
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