Is free delivery better than lower prices?


According to new research, businesses that offer free postage and packaging have a distinct advantage over those that add postage and packaging costs to their bill.

The research of over 2,000 UK consumers found that 35% of consumers won’t spend money with a brand online if it adds this cost onto the bill, while a massive 50% are more likely to spend with a brand if their delivery costs are free.

The research was carried out in November 2016 by Rakuten Marketing along with Morar Research. It involved surveying a representative sample of 2,000 consumers across the UK.

Implications of this Research

The implications of this research are obvious. It is better to increase the price of your product and then offer free delivery, rather than to charge lower prices but add on a delivery charge. 

At the end of the day, your overall price might still be the same. But customers seem to have a preference for free delivery. Maybe it's just the psychology of using the word "free".

This might all be more to do with customer perceptions than reality, but as Kate Zabriskie famously said: “The customer’s perception is your reality.”

REFERENCES

www morarconsulting.com
www.businesstrainingworks.com