Web merchants required more spending for free shipping this Christmas
Just over 50% of online retailers used free shipping to lure more traffic to their e-commerce site this holiday season, but over three-fourths of all merchants also set minimal amounts customers had to spend to avoid a shipping charge, according to the early results of Internet Retailer’s forthcoming monthly survey on fulfillment and order management.
The preliminary survey, which includes a response from about 110 chain retailers, catalog companies, virtual merchants and consumer brand manufacturers, finds that 53.6% of merchants offered free shipping this Christmas shopping season, compared with 46.4% that didn’t.
The survey also reveals that 79.3% of web retailers required their customers to spend a minimum amount before they became eligible for free shipping. A total of 32.6% of retailers required customers to spend from $76 to $100 to qualify for free shipping, compared with 28.3% that required spending of $100 or more, 23.9% from $51 to $75, 6.5% from $26 to $50, and 8.7% $25 or less.
68.4% of chain retailers offered free shipping this holiday shopping season, compared to 60% of catalogers, 49.2% of online-only retailers and 45.5% of consumer brand manufacturers, according to the survey.
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