
Canadians love to shop online. We know – tell you something you don’t know, right? Many a Canadian POS blog entry has heralded the world of e-commerce as it has provided countless Canadian business owners with much greater opportunities to generate better revenue. By allowing shoppers to make purchases directly from your website, you enable your business to become a very convenient 24/7 entity. And consumers will richly reward you for it!
Let it be known, however, that not all online stores are created equal. It’s important to offer your online shoppers special perks and benefits that separate your brand’s online shopping experiences from all the others. One thing that will certainly help for you to boost business is to offer free shipping.
“Shipping options play a pivotal role in an online shopper\’s decision of where to spend their hard-earned dollars,” insists BigCommerce.ca. The website points out that free shopping entices customers to make purchases as they can wrap all of the costs into the prices of each item they buy. By offering free shipping, you immediately inform the buying public that money can be saved by choosing your online shop over its competitors.
Free shipping increases the average amount of each sale.
“If I can save money on shipping, why not put a little something extra into my shopping cart?” This is the general mindset of the average online shopper. Keep in mind that most people who utilize the internet to make their purchases are savvy consumers who are looking for deals. The more money they can save, the more they are likely to buy. By offering free shipping, you entice these shoppers to increase their order sizes.
“A portion of the promised, free-shipping-induced boost in ecommerce revenue will come in the form of increased average order value,” writes Armando Roggio on PracticalEcommerce.com, “When free shipping offers include a minimum purchase threshold — like $25, $50, or $75 — some shoppers will add items to their carts. In fact, a June 2015 study from comScore and UPS said that 52 percent of American shoppers have added items to their ecommerce shopping cart to qualify for free shipping.”
Free shipping helps to close the deal.
As you’re aware, there are a number of steps that need to be taken in order for an online purchase to be made. The item must be selected and chosen to be placed into a “shopping cart”. Once the consumer is ready to make the purchase, he/she takes the cart to “checkout” in order fill out his/her payment information. At that time, shipping fees and taxes are generally added to the final purchase price. These fees can often lead a shopper to abandon his/her cart.
“Shopping carts are often abandoned at the checkout when customers are dissuaded by an additional shipping charge,” says BigCommerce.ca, “Maintaining a steady cost from product page to checkout increases a customer\’s likelihood on following through with the purchase.”
If you’re yet to enjoy the benefits of having an online shop, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Canadian POS. We offer a secure e-commerce solution that enables you to easily and securely accept and process all credit cards from your website. For more information, call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.