Whether you want to believe it or not, the holiday season is right around the corner. While Black Friday used to be the retail highlight of the season, a new development in retail history is taking its place: Free Shipping Day. First promoted in 2008, Free Shipping Day extends the holiday shopping season for online merchants and gives procrastinating consumers one final chance at holiday deals. Held in mid-December, this year’s event has been officially announced to take place on Friday, Dec. 16. “Merchants now see Free Shipping Day as a must participate event, which is why retailers are signing up so early for 2011,” said founder, Luke Knowles.
Free Shipping Incentives
While brick and mortars will find last minute shoppers walking their aisles, those retailers solely operating a B2C site now have the opportunity to grab the attention of the last minute shopper with the promise of free shipping and delivery by Christmas Eve. “With close to $1 billion in Internet sales on Dec. 17, Free Shipping Day 2010 outpaced Black Friday for web sales by nearly $300 million, and was the third largest online spending day in U.S. history,” according to Comscore. It is anticipated that these results and the extensive media coverage the event brings will encourage over 2,000 retailers to participate this year. Participating retailers span every corner of cyberspace, from heavy-hitters like Macy’s and JCPenney to niche designers and Etsy artisans.
“The truth is,” Knowles says, “people are becoming more comfortable with digital purchases every day, with smartphones and tablets in nearly every home. The holiday season is a perfect time for merchants and shoppers to take advantage of all the online world has to offer.” Shoppers will find a roster of participating merchants at www.freeshippingday.com. Any associated offers and coupons with the event or individual retailers will be revealed the day of the event.
This piece has been adapted from an original press release on www.freeshippingday.com