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<p>Plenty of surveys have shown that <a href="/blog/2163-free-shipping-lots-of-sales">free delivery is a sales driver</a>, so if your site offers this, you may as well make sure your visitors know.</p>
<p>There was a <a href="http://www.getelastic.com/promote-free-shipping/">useful post </a>on this topic on the Get Elastic blog this week, with advice for retailers on how to promote free delivery offers.</p>
<p>Tips include adding free delivery / free shipping to the text of search ads, email subject lines, title and meta description tags, data feeds and other online advertising, as well as promoting the offer on the website itself.</p>
<p>
<em>The article has some good best practice examples from US retailers, so I've taken a look to see how UK etailers are promoting these offers...</em>
</p>
<p>Comet has free basic delivery and charges extra for next day, but there is no mention of this on the homepage, and it doesn't exactly stand out on product pages:</p>
<p>
<img alt="Free delivery product page" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2947164736_4b16ff07cb_o.jpg" />
</p>
<p>John Lewis does an excellent job of promoting its free delivery; the offer is included in its <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=john+lewis&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SNYK_en-GB">title tag </a>so searchers will see the offer even before they reach the site, while the offer is also given homepage prominence.</p>
<p>The text 'free delivery on everything' is also excellent, and leaves no room for confusion in the customer's mind:</p>
<p>
<img alt="John Lewis free delivery offer" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2947164740_672a8da4b2_o.jpg" />
</p>
<p>Game.co.uk provides another good example of this, also communicating the terms clearly on the top right of the page: </p>
<p>
<img alt="Game free delivery offer" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2045/2947164730_8b7c1896b5_o.jpg" />
</p>
<p>Borders.co.uk could do a better job of displaying its free delivery (for orders over £15) offer on its homepage and product pages, but it is clearly promoted on its emails, and shoppers are reminded of the offer and prompted to spend more to qualify on the shopping basket:</p>
<p>
<img alt="Borders delivery offer " src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2947164742_8832bd7290_o.jpg" />
</p>
<p>Tesco also promotes its offer well in its email subject line so people will read this before opening the email, and making it virtually impossible to miss on its website.</p>
<p>
<img alt="Tesco email offer" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3277/2947289572_855a569924_o.jpg" />
</p>
<p>However, it only provides free delivery for orders of £50 or more from Tesco Direct, which looks a little miserly when compared to Amazon's Christmas offer and the other retailers mentioned here.</p>
<p>
<strong>See me on Twitter </strong>
<a href="http://twitter.com/gcharlton">
<strong>here </strong>
</a>
<strong>.</strong>
</p>
<p>
<strong>Related articles:</strong>
<br />
<a href="/blog/2726-the-future-challenges-of-online-retail-delivery">The future challenges of online retail - delivery</a>
<br />
<a href="/blog/2272-the-last-mile-a-rant-about-delivery">The last mile - a rant about delivery</a>
</p>
<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/">
<Paragraph>Plenty of surveys have shown that <Link URL="/blog/2163-free-shipping-lots-of-sales" Window="Self">free delivery is a sales driver</Link>, so if your site offers this, you may as well make sure your visitors know.</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>There was a <Link URL="http://www.getelastic.com/promote-free-shipping/" Window="Self">useful post </Link>on this topic on the Get Elastic blog this week, with advice for retailers on how to promote free delivery offers.</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>Tips include adding free delivery / free shipping to the text of search ads, email subject lines, title and meta description tags, data feeds and other online advertising, as well as promoting the offer on the website itself.</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Quote>The article has some good best practice examples from US retailers, so I've taken a look to see how UK etailers are promoting these offers...</Quote>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>Comet has free basic delivery and charges extra for next day, but there is no mention of this on the homepage, and it doesn't exactly stand out on product pages:</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Image AlternateText="Free delivery product page" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3186/2947164736_4b16ff07cb_o.jpg">
</Image>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>John Lewis does an excellent job of promoting its free delivery; the offer is included in its <Link URL="http://www.google.com/search?q=john+lewis&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7SNYK_en-GB" Window="Self">title tag </Link>so searchers will see the offer even before they reach the site, while the offer is also given homepage prominence.</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>The text 'free delivery on everything' is also excellent, and leaves no room for confusion in the customer's mind:</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Image AlternateText="John Lewis free delivery offer" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2947164740_672a8da4b2_o.jpg">
</Image>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>Game.co.uk provides another good example of this, also communicating the terms clearly on the top right of the page: </Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Image AlternateText="Game free delivery offer" Source="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2045/2947164730_8b7c1896b5_o.jpg">
</Image>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>Borders.co.uk could do a better job of displaying its free delivery (for orders over £15) offer on its homepage and product pages, but it is clearly promoted on its emails, and shoppers are reminded of the offer and prompted to spend more to qualify on the shopping basket:</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Image AlternateText="Borders delivery offer " Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3021/2947164742_8832bd7290_o.jpg">
</Image>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>Tesco also promotes its offer well in its email subject line so people will read this before opening the email, and making it virtually impossible to miss on its website.</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Image AlternateText="Tesco email offer" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3277/2947289572_855a569924_o.jpg">
</Image>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>However, it only provides free delivery for orders of £50 or more from Tesco Direct, which looks a little miserly when compared to Amazon's Christmas offer and the other retailers mentioned here.</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Emphasis>See me on Twitter </Emphasis>
<Link URL="http://twitter.com/gcharlton" Window="Self">
<Emphasis>here </Emphasis>
</Link>
<Emphasis>.</Emphasis>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Emphasis>Related articles:</Emphasis>
<LineBreak />
<Link URL="/blog/2726-the-future-challenges-of-online-retail-delivery" Window="Self">The future challenges of online retail - delivery</Link>
<LineBreak />
<Link URL="/blog/2272-the-last-mile-a-rant-about-delivery" Window="Self">The last mile - a rant about delivery</Link>
</Paragraph>
</FormattedContent>
2008-10-16T14:01:00+01:00
2
1
econsultancy_xml
<p>
<strong>As reported yesterday on this blog, Amazon has made the smart decision to <a href="/blog/2868-amazon-lures-shoppers-with-new-free-delivery-scheme">lower its threshold for free delivery </a>to £5. </strong>
</p>
<p>The site trumpets this by displaying a letter from Jeff Bezos on its homepage, as well as in bold text on the product pages, so no customer can be in any doubt about the offer: </p>
<p>
<img alt="Amazon free delivery" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3281/2946223595_5dc85f7967_o.jpg" />
</p>
<FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/">
<Paragraph>
<Emphasis>As reported yesterday on this blog, Amazon has made the smart decision to <Link URL="/blog/2868-amazon-lures-shoppers-with-new-free-delivery-scheme" Window="Self">lower its threshold for free delivery </Link>to £5. </Emphasis>
</Paragraph>
<Paragraph>The site trumpets this by displaying a letter from Jeff Bezos on its homepage, as well as in bold text on the product pages, so no customer can be in any doubt about the offer: </Paragraph>
<Paragraph>
<Image AlternateText="Amazon free delivery" Source="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3281/2946223595_5dc85f7967_o.jpg">
</Image>
</Paragraph>
</FormattedContent>
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Offering free delivery? Then shout about it...
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2009-04-29T13:21:45+01:00
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