- I'd rather have shipping be separate (but prominently displayed), so that buying multiple items in one order would be beneficial. But obviously a site has to have consistently good prices for this to make sense. (And eventually, a meta-buy engine that optimizes sourcing from multiple suppliers, but we can dream).
- I figure the prominence of free shipping has more to do with price fixing by the manufacturers (minimum advertised prices, etc), and perhaps rate secrecy by shipping companies as well. Since walk-in stores build logistics into the price tag, online retailers had to move to that model as well to have comparable prices.
- I still don't believe that direct shipping is three times the cost of brick and mortar fulfillment. I'd really like to see that accounting to make sure that it is including things like the full expense of running a retail store with employees, additional distribution centers, and clearance markdowns. I can see a strong temptation for a traditional brick and mortar retailer to count much of that as necessary overhead for their entire brand rather than attributing it directly to retail sales.
- kind of, I think really Amazon made this the default and did it unprofitably.
- right
I think they are just looking at the logistical costs using truckloads instead of small parcels, etc. The cost of slow moving inventory at a store is much higher than at a distribution center. The economics of a store is much different than the economics of a distribution center. There is a reason products are more expensive at a store than online and it is that the cost basis of running a retail store is higher than running an e-commerce business. This claim is absurdly intentionally misleading.
I still don't believe that direct shipping is three times the cost of brick and mortar fulfillment.
That's probably a figure for companies which already have brick-and-mortar stores and also ship from those stores. Like Safeway. Companies with big automated fulfillment operations, such as Amazon, shouldn't incur such high costs.
- I figure the prominence of free shipping has more to do with price fixing by the manufacturers (minimum advertised prices, etc), and perhaps rate secrecy by shipping companies as well. Since walk-in stores build logistics into the price tag, online retailers had to move to that model as well to have comparable prices.
- I still don't believe that direct shipping is three times the cost of brick and mortar fulfillment. I'd really like to see that accounting to make sure that it is including things like the full expense of running a retail store with employees, additional distribution centers, and clearance markdowns. I can see a strong temptation for a traditional brick and mortar retailer to count much of that as necessary overhead for their entire brand rather than attributing it directly to retail sales.