Shipping costs are surely the bane of any attempt to do online shopping. You can happily click through a website, finding bargains at every turn, comparing prices and products with ease, and then, suddenly, when you reach the checkout, you find that you’re paying far more than you realised: The shipping fee is turning your bargain-basement shopping spree into a suddenly costly affair. You either have to go back through your basket, dumping lots of stuff so you can meet your budget, plow on regardless and save money somewhere else, or just forget the whole shopping expedition. It’s all pretty disheartening, especially when everything else about online shopping is so easy, so when you shop online free shipping is a huge attraction!
Fortunately, plenty of companies are upfront about their shipping fees, so you don’t end up with any nasty surprises at the checkout. And plenty more offer deals on certain amounts: Free shipping on any product over $100, for example. Usually they display those offers right where you can see them, so you know what you know exactly what you’re getting, which is definitely more convenient than telling you at the last minute. This way, you can plan your shop with savings on shipping in mind, making the whole thing much easier if you’re shopping on a budget.
Some companies even offer no strings attached free shipping, though these are few and far between. Those who do tend to take a little longer to send you your products, because they rely on grouping lots of small orders together to save on delivery costs. Essentially what happens is that you wind up waiting till enough people in your town have also bought something for it to be worthwhile for the company to ship you your order. If you’re not in a hurry, companies who do this are a good choice for you.
Many more companies, though, generally don’t offer free shipping. This isn’t really their fault: If you’re a small business or you generally ship one or two items at a time, offering free shipping on all your products will probably put you of business pretty quickly. However, even these companies recognize the usefulness and saleability of free shipping, and are keen to offer it where possible. So how do they do it? They use coupons! Or, rather, they use coupon codes, coupons themselves being more or less completely unnecessary in the age of the web. As a result, online shopping with free shipping is often available even from companies that don’t offer it all year round.
There are lots of advantages to offering free shipping for a limited time only, or only to those using a particular coupon code, or both, which is why so many companies do it. You can attract new customers and regain old ones, get rid of old stock to make room in the warehouse while still turning a profit, and reassure customers that you understand their needs. And for customers, carefully using coupon codes or just waiting for the right moment to buy means that you can save money at all your favorite online stores. So get shopping Canada free shipping is out there!
