When the inaugural Free Shipping Day was held in December 2008, retailers embraced the event because it extended the online holiday shopping season and created substantial exposure that the merchants otherwise would not have seen. This is especially true for small retailers, many of which set single-day sales records and web site traffic. Because of this, it is no surprise that most retailers that participated last year have signed up for this year’s Free Shipping Day, which is set for Thursday, December 17. Last year, 250 merchants participated. The number for this year’s Free Shipping Day is 585 and counting.
“We received an enormous amount of online, print and broadcast media coverage, and that created awareness for Free Shipping Day and the retailers that participated,” Knowles said. “Smaller merchants especially benefitted because it was free exposure that introduced them to consumers who could become repeat customers.”
Free Shipping Day (www.freeshippingday.com) represents the last possible 24-hour period when online shoppers can place their orders with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. The event has attracted the major retailers that have deep marketing budgets. For smaller merchants, Free Shipping Day has emerged as profitable in many ways.
Julie Swatek, who is founder and president of Scrap Your Trip (www.scrapyourtrip.com), was hesitant to try free shipping until she learned about last year’s Free Shipping Day. She decided to participate, giving customers free shipping on orders of at least $59. The result was a 92 percent increase in sales over the previous day.
“We were so stunned with the response that we had to work overtime to fill the orders,” said Swatek, whose company sells travel and scene-specific scrapbooking materials. “This year, we know what to expect, so we are working hard to make sure we are completely caught up so on December 17 can just focus on orders generated from Free Shipping Day.”
Swatek was so impressed with the response created by Free Shipping Day that she decided to implement free shipping for customers at the beginning of 2009. As a result, Scrap Your Trip’s average order has increased 23 percent over last year.
Kari Kraichely of Charm Boutique (www.charm-boutique.com), which sells handmade jewelry and gifts, said her site set a single-day record for traffic because of its participation in last year’s Free Shipping Day. In preparation for December 17, Kraichely has increased her staff to fill the anticipated orders.
“We don’t have the marketing budget of a big retailer, so Free Shipping Day represents a great opportunity to increase our customer base,” Kraichely said. “We already offered free shipping before we participated in last year’s Free Shipping Day, but since the event gave us exposure to people who didn’t know about us, we had a lot of repeat sales throughout the year.”
Knowles expected a favorable response from retailers and consumers last year, but he didn’t anticipate the overwhelming interest that the event actually received. The FreeShippingDay.com web site saw 250,000 hits in a 10-day period, including 100,000 on the actual day itself.
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