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A:
Free shipping may not suit every online business. It's usually
ideal for businesses which sell products with a similar weight ratio,
such as books, cd's or dvd's. Or basically any item which does not
weigh very much and is small in dimension. If your product range
varies from cushions to bodybuilding weights, then you may want
to reconsider a free shipping incentive. If you do go with a free
shipping incentive then you may wish to exclude hard to reach post
code area's, as postal carriers can hit and alter the charge rate
quite drastically. Another option is to limit free shipping to an
order threshold of say £50, rather than across the range.
Amazon were one of the first online merchants to offer free shipping.
There services began with a threshold of around £25, which
was reduced to £18, then £15, then free to all orders,
as they fine tuned their system or as competition required. In conclusion,
if some your products are heavy, or large in dimension, or ship
overseas, then you should seriously question whether a free shipping
incentive is for you, or at the very least implement a month by
month order price threshold for free shipping, so that the whims
of the energy/postal market do not cripple your business.
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