In the middle of last year (June 2001), Amazon.com made headlines by announcing that they were going to offer free shipping and handling for any purchases over $99. Is this a trend for the future? Maybe…but only for the rich.
While Amazon’s offer brought millions of dollars worth of publicity to the company, not too many of us regular ecommerce website owners can afford to offer free shipping and handling. The latest issue of eMarketer’s “eCommerce: B2C & Demographics” emphatically states that shipping and handling is a “sizable” business expense. The online metrics company, Jupiter, stated that 45% of ecommerce website owners loose money on shipping and handling.