Why Offering Free Shipping will Increase Your Online Orders

During the Coronavirus Pandemic Boost Sales with Free Shipping

Shipping plays a huge role in e-Commerce.  Free shipping is increasingly the number one promotional tool used to entice online shoppers during the virus pandemic. Many of the major online players including Amazon and Walmart offer free shipping. Free shipping is a major tool retailers use to attract new customers and keep existing customers.

According to comScore, a leading Internet marketing research company, during the first three weeks of the holiday season in 2010, 45 percent of transactions included free shipping, the percentage rose to 50 percent by the 21st of November, increased to 55 percent in the week ending November 28 and was still at a high rate of 51 percent in the week ending December 5. It’s important to note, transactions using free shipping for the week ending December 5, 2010 averaged $125.20, 45 percent higher than orders using paid shipping.

> Consumers Expect Free Shipping

Due to the prevalence of free shipping in online retailing, consumers expect it when shopping on the Web. A recent comScore survey showed 84 percent of consumers indicated free shipping was somewhat or very important when making purchases and may be even more important during the virus pandemic.

Jeffrey Grau, principal analyst at eMarketer, said “Free shipping makes e-commerce more appealing. A lot of people won’t buy from a website if there isn’t some sort of free shipping. It’s almost a requirement.”  He went on to say “Retailers have to decide for themselves whether the potentially higher sales can justify absorbing the shipping costs. They’re going to hope for higher volume and slightly lower margins. They’ll try to make up the cost in higher volume” (E-Commerce Times).

Free Shipping Day, held on the 17th of December, is an example of the power free shipping has on consumers. In 2009, Free Shipping Day accounted for $586 million non-travel retail spending and surged to $942 million in 2010, a 61 percent increase (comScore).

Azita Arvani, principal of the Arvani Group, said “The biggest friction points in online shopping are payment and shipping. By offering free shipping, it reduces a key friction point, which should result in more sales, provided the offer is not too restrictive to a point of being meaningless to the consumer” (E-Commerce Times).

> Don’t Ignore the Trend

The free shipping strategy includes the prospects of thinner margins or higher prices on merchandise, however online retailers who ignore the trend will likely have lower transaction volumes. By enticing consumers with free shipping, retailers may be able to avoid offering deep discounts on their merchandise.

Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT stated “Free shipping is always a bonus, especially when money is tight, consumers are getting creative. They want a high-dollar item that won’t have a stiff shipping fee. Getting the shipping free makes sense” (E-Commerce Times).

> Free Shipping, a Daily Promotion

Increasingly, free shipping has become a daily promotion in online retailing. According to comScore, in the third quarter of 2010, 41 percent of all online retail transactions included free shipping. Gary Reblin, Vice President, Domestic Products , U.S. Postal service, believes the growth trend in e-commerce transactions coupled with free shipping in the business-to-consumer segment continues to be the number one compelling force in the shipping industry (Source: PARCEL).

Free shipping is a great way to stay competitive and increase sales. Free shipping is also a good way to get rid of last year’s merchandise. However, to keep a healthy profit margin   it’s vital for retailers to partner with a savvy, experienced fulfillment service such as Medallion Fulfillment and Logistics to keep shipping costs low. A knowledgeable fulfillment company knows how to take care of a large increase in orders and can negotiate based on volume for the lowest packaging and shipping rate possible.

As you plan your virus pandemic selling strategy, consider that consumers have come to expect free shipping during the year and in the holiday season – free shipping can make or break your own promotion projections.

Don’t Let Your Business Suffer Due to Amazon’s Policies, You Have Options!

Learn About the Amazon Effect

We’re all about solutions here at Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics. The coronavirus pandemic demands that we think outside the box to keep businesses growing and homebound customers satisfied.

Amazon froze shipments from March 17th to April 5th, and now states the following on their website:

“While we will continue prioritizing the products we can receive beyond April 5, we are now able to broaden the list. Given our constrained capacity, we are doing this on an item-by-item basis. We have updated the Restock Inventory page and Restock report in Seller Central so you can check which products are eligible for shipment creation. We consider many factors when determining eligibility, including high-demand products customers need now; current inventory levels and inventory in transit; fulfillment center capacity; and our ability to adhere to the latest health guidelines.” Read the full article at Amazon Seller Central.

What we are hearing from Amazon sellers is that Amazon is restricting their incoming stock replenishment shipments. Interestingly, when you order Amazon products like the FireStick, as one of our team members did recently, there was no shipping delay for a purchase of Amazon’s branded products.

To solve “unfair practices” that Amazon is enforcing as policy, we have developed a special program called FBM (Fulfillment by Medallion). The FBM program allows you to ship product to both or either of our East Coast or West Coast warehouses, and gets you back shipping goods to customers the day after we receive your products. This redundancy with FBA lets you be proactive to the current business and virus situation. And, our FBM allows you to leverage sales to homebound workers; who may be shopping to pass the time, or who are buying items for family members to stay entertained with while home from school. With no shipping or stock restrictions, our program can get you back in business fast!

You can easily select to move to Fulfillment by Seller within Amazon Seller Central and not be held hostage or be affected by Amazon’s policies.

With a growing dissatisfied Amazon warehouse staff that has done a limited walkout and has expresses fears of contagion requiring management to provide temperature checks and masks in warehouses, FBA now seems a less stable option for businesses in the coronavirus era.

Here’s how our FBM (Fulfillment by Medallion) program works:

1. Ship your goods, or a selection of goods, to our East Coast or West Coast warehouses or to both.

2. Our special dedicated FBM On-Boarding Team fast tracks processing and works with you to implement your ordering and shipping fast. We can start shipping orders the day after we receive your products in our warehouse.

3. There are no long term contracts and you can even get a formal and affordable price quote today.

4. Get back in business – shipping to homebound and internet-connected potential customers in one day after receipt of your products in our facility. Don’t miss a beat and make your sales projections this quarter, even with communities and workers on lockdown.

After the threat is over, we think you’ll stay a Medallion FBM customer due to our affordable pricing and can-do attitude. Don’t let your business merchandise be held hostage by Amazon; you have an affordable option – FBM (Fulfillment by Medallion).

Give us a call today and let us show you how we can get you back in business fast.

Priority Mail Express International Guarantee Suspended to Certain Countries

USPS just announced disruptions to International service. According to the USPS,the data is constantly being revised. Please review this page to get the most up-to-date information.

Due to airline travel restrictions and cancellations, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has temporarily suspended the guarantee on Priority Mail Express International destined to China, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. These suspensions will be in effect until further notice. The Postal Service is taking all reasonable measures to minimize impact to our customers.

Starting 4/3/2020 USPS will not accept shipments to these 22 countries (see list below).

USPS is going to block USPS, GAP and GP shipments to the 22 impacted countries now. This will affect both Stamps and Endicia customers.

This is a rapidly evolving situation. We don’t know what the error messages will be yet (in applications), but the shipments will be blocked from printing.

At the bottom of the list is a link to USPS website where you can track the status of shipping updates by country.

The list of countries included in the Temporary Service Suspension has just been updated as noted below.

Botswana
Cayman Islands
Chad
Ecuador
Fiji
French Polynesia
Honduras
India
Kuwait
Libya
Madagascar
Maldives
Mongolia
New Caledonia
Panama
Peru
Samoa
South Africa
Bolivia
Sri Lanka
Zimbabwe

Please visit the USPS International Service Alerts page for the most up to date information.

Beyond Amazon, the Power of E-commerce Marketplace Diversification

It's time to consider diversification.

Plenty of businesses use Amazon as their primary online marketplace. But many observe the old adage and don’t put all of their eggs in one basket. Diversification is a successful e-commerce strategy that allows your business to reach more customers in more places.

Our clients use a variety of marketplaces to expand their businesses. These are some of our favorites. Medallion and Sprocket Express integrate with all of these markets quickly and efficiently so that you can ship all of your orders using one easy fulfillment interface.

eBay

This year marks eBay’s 25th anniversary as an online marketplace. It was one of the first and continues to function as a major selling platform. Although Amazon has risen to number one with roughly three times the annual gross merchandise volume (GMV), eBay is still the second leading marketplace in the U.S.

Similar to Amazon, an e-commerce eBay “shop” allows retailers a single branded storefront for all of their listings. Whether used in conjunction with a brand website or as the primary online presence, the eBay shop is a powerful selling tool.

Medallion and Sprocket are fluent in multiple e-commerce marketplaces and already integrates with eBay for a seamless experience, allowing multi-channel merchants to focus on their products and leave the marketplace protocols to us.

Walmart.com

Walmart is the third largest e-commerce marketplace in the United States and represents serious competition to Amazon. Approximately 95% of Americans have shopped at Walmart or Walmart.com in the past year, so this is a massive audience and it continues to grow.

It is easy to start selling on Walmart with these seven steps. Marketplace items appear in search results on Walmart.com alongside other items.

Shopify

Shopify is an e-commerce platform designed to allow clients to easily build a website with a shopping cart solution. As one of the most popular e-commerce cart packages, this software option is a powerful online selling tool.

For businesses that prefer to sell mainly on their own websites, Shopify is an ideal choice. You can also use the platform to build your own marketplace for your brand. Look for a fulfillment service like Medallion Fulfillment & Logistics and Sprocket Express, which is already integrated and ready to connect to your site in fifteen minutes.

Rakuten.com Shopping or Buy.com

Buy.com (recently renamed Rakuten.com Shopping) is one of the largest online retail marketplaces with over 20 million customers in the U.S. On this platform, e-commerce sellers can create their own fully branded “storefront” to maintain cohesive brand identity.

As an added bonus, Rakuten clients have access to an e-commerce consultant to advise sellers on ways to expand exposure and increase sales. Customers of the marketplace also earn cash back, which promotes loyalty to the platform and encourages repeat business.

Retail EDI

Companies that sell to wholesale customers to supply their retail stores often use Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to transmit orders. This is the most efficient way to resupply because the system does all of the work behind the scenes and all the store has to do is enter the quantity of an item to trigger the order.

EDI is a powerful strategy for B2B sellers and can trim time and staff expenses, contributing to a healthier bottom-line and less error in the supply chain. Medallion and Sprocket Express are equipped with full EDI capabilities to allow our wholesale clients to focus on expanding their businesses without devoting valuable time to processing large orders.

East and West Coast Warehouses to Speed Delivery to Customers

Medallion and Sprocket Express are expressly designed to serve multichannel marketers and omnichannel sellers. With built-in integrations for numerous marketplaces, we are prepared to serve your business wherever and however you choose to sell.

We currently support multi-channel platforms for over 25% of our clients, so we can also coach on carrier selection, shipping method strategies and more, based on your unique business needs.

When you are ready to ramp up your business, Medallion with East and West Coast warehouse operations is ready to help you with shopping cart integrations that maximize your efficiency.

Be Careful How What You Say About Your Product Features and Benefits — Don’t Get Caught by the Feds

Don't Get Caught by the Feds

Several years ago, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revised its guides governing endorsements and testimonials for marketers. The timing of the revision is noteworthy — the previous guidelines dated back to 1980, before anyone heard of the Internet, much less Facebook. Your online marketing could have the best intentions, but any over-selling efforts could get flagged by the Feds.

Why the Update and Change by the FTC?

1) Not Everything Online is Yours to Use

Celebrity images or endorsements. Think a photo of Beyonce or Tim Tebow will grab attention and boost your brand image? Or perhaps you want to use a classic rock song as background for your YouTube video? You could be asking for a cease and desist letter at best, and a copyright infringement suit at worst. As for endorsements, it goes without saying that using someone’s image on your marketing implies endorsement that may not exist. If you do spring for a real endorsement, the FTC’s detailed guidelines cover honesty of opinion, reliability of the claim and disclosure of the celebrity being a paid spokesperson.

Social media misdeeds. For a glimpse of how social media has changed the face of marketing, you need only to see what the FTC is eyeing these days. According to Mashable, some questionable practices catching the agency’s eye include “flogging,” which consists of blogs that exist only to promote a product or service; and “astroturfing,” in which phony customers post misleading or biased reviews on sites like Yelp.

2) Claims Need Substantiation

Marketing claims. “Natura”… “organic”… “green.” Words like that may bring images of environmentally sound, sustainable and chemical-free products. But sprinkling in claims without substantiation can get you into trouble, as Neutrogena recently discovered. The cosmetics company was hit with a $1.8 million class action fine for describing some of its skin-care products as “natural” when they contained what the suit called “chemically derived, synthetic fragrances.”

As for “green” marketing claims, the FTC wants you to provide “competent and reliable evidence” of your claim, in the form of reliable scientific evidence, defined as tests, analyses, research, studies or other evidence when you claim your product is “green..”

Apples to OrangesGood, better and best. The subtle wording of parity claims constitutes an established form of marketing. Take Brand X’s claim that “no battery lasts longer.” Does that mean Brand X battery lasts longer than Brand Y? No; batteries are generally identical regardless of brand. As a parity claim, “no battery lasts longer” simply means that Brand Y (and every other brand) is likely to last the as long as Brand X — but not longer.

Parity claims abound in marketing: “No pain reliever works faster.” “Get the best chocolate taste.”  The FTC does not generally care about “best” parity claims. But superiority claims to be “better” than a competitor must be backed up with accurate and non-biased proof.

Some companies push the good/better/best envelope too far. When Ford once claimed its car was “700% quieter,” the FTC asked for a clarification. Ford had to admit that they meant the inside of the Ford was 700% quieter than the outside — not a highly compelling claim!

Carefully Craft Your Content

The vast majority of marketers are never cited by the authorities, so running a clean campaign is not so hard to accomplish. When you describe your features and benefits with care — giving an accurate description without over-selling or using unethical tactics — you’ll boost your company’s credibility while encouraging new business.