According to market research by Compete, shipping costs are a nuisance for most online shoppers. 93% of interviewees said they would buy more online if there shipping were free of charge. However, this is due to subjective perception, the researchers surmise. After having looked for online prices 67% of the interviewed online shoppers go off to buy the desired article offline, in a shop. And 65% of interviewees would order online but collect the article offline.
Gian Fulgoni of comScore said in December 2009 in an interview with InformationWeek, “In these tough economic times, the retailers with sufficient financial resources and a willingness to invest in aggressive marketing and free shipping offers were clear winners.” Especially the measure to charge no shipping costs at all (like Amazon for books, etc.) could turn out to be most helpful.