You Can’t Sell Shoes Online Without Free Shipping
March 3rd, 2010 by Doug BrightYou have to offer free shipping to sell shoes online. At least it seems most pure-play online shoe retailers think so.
Our free shipping list surveys 129 clothing and shoes retailers weekly. Of those 129 retailers, only these 13 offer free shipping with no minimum purchase:
Amerimark
Barneys New York
CaféPress.com
Casual Living
CustomInk.com
Kate Spade
Onlineshoes.com
Piperlime
Road Runner Sports
Shoebuy.com
ShoeMall.com
Shoes.com
The Guiltless Purse
Even though they make up only a small fraction of the clothing and shoes category, online shoe retailers account for nearly half of merchants offering free shipping (6 out of 13).
Has Zappos’ free shipping and returns policy forced competitors to drop shipping charges as well or is there another dynamic at work here?
(It’s interesting to note that, although free shipping is nearly ubiquitous in the shoe business, many merchants are reluctant to offer free returns as well. Instead they promote “easy shipping” by providing free pre-paid return shipping labels, cost deducted from return amount, of course. If everyone is forced to match Zappos’ free shipping policy, why not their free returns policy as well?)
Tags: @zappos
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