Black Friday Free Shipping: Everything You Need to Know

With the holiday season in full swing,  online shoppers are on the lookout for the best available shipping rates.

Retailers scramble during the rush of Black Friday to get the attention of as many consumers as possible. As a result, Black Friday's free shipping is key for retailers who want a competitive advantage during the holiday season. According to Shopify, a huge 75% of online shoppers say Black Friday free shipping is crucial to their shopping experience. While a substantial 58% expect free next-day delivery.

Primarily, free doorstep delivery, majorly on Black Friday, is essential to remain competitive among online shopping brands. Ultimately, people are generally more interested in shopping online with retailers that offer free shipping.

In this blog post, we’ll discuss what you need to know about offering free shipping on Black Friday for customers. Plus, we'll discuss tips and hacks from Easyship to simplify Black Friday for a seamless shipping experience.

Retail Brands Offering Free Shipping on Black Friday

Competition among different retailers heats up every holiday season during Black Friday. So, naturally, retailers are looking to retain their customers by giving them the best deals. But, consumers are looking more than that to be loyal to a retailing brand.

Retailers are using Black Friday free international shipping to gain more customers and market share during holiday sales. Many of the biggest retailers and eCommerce sites offer Black Friday free shipping for orders over certain thresholds.

The retailers and eCommerce sites that offer Black Friday deals for a limited time include:

• Amazon: Amazon Prime offers its members free two days shipping with no minimum spend. For non-members, free international shipping is available on orders $25 and more
• Walmart: Walmart offers free two-day shipping when you spend $35
• Wayfair: Wayfair offers online shoppers free shipping for orders over $35
• Bloomingdales: Bloomingdales offers free international shipping through December 20

How To Offer Free Shipping

There's no one standard approach to free shipping. Plus, free doorstep delivery may not be attainable for small businesses. For instance, shipping goods without charges attract extra costs depending on the following factors:

• Product weight
• Box size
• Delivery destination
• Item price

We’ll talk about two significant ways to offer free shipping on your eCommerce site here. Then, in the section, we’ll go over the different ways free shipping can be provided.

Order Value Thresholds

Value thresholds are the most efficient way to increase consumers' AOV (average order value) on your eCommerce sites. Consumers are also willing to add one or two extra items to the cart to qualify for free shipping.

With value thresholds, merchants can do the following:

• Offer your customers the expected free shipping while maintaining revenue.
• Reduce cart abandonment by attracting customers who may be interested in getting doorstep delivery free of charge.
• Increase order value by encouraging shoppers to buy more to meet minimum shipping costs.

The benefit of the minimum free shipping amount exists as long as you get the right free shipping amount. According to BigCommerce, 64% of brands offer free shipping through order value thresholds. For example, Walmart only provides free international shipping for overs qualifying $35 or more.

Seasonal Offerings

In 2023, 131 million US consumers planned to shop on Black Friday, with $13 billion in total sales, highlighting the significant opportunity for eCommerce stores. In 2022, 77.74% of all online shopping carts were abandoned on Black Friday, showing how crucial it is for retailers to optimize their checkout process and offer incentives like free shipping. Mobile shopping accounted for 48% of Black Friday digital sales, and overall online sales hit $9.12 billion, further underscoring the growth of digital transactions over in-store purchases.

A Criteo survey reveals that Black Friday is increasingly becoming Cyber Friday, with eCommerce purchases surging by +374% compared to the October average, while in-store sales only rose by 64.5%. Despite the rise in online shopping, 40% of brands missed out on this crucial sales event by choosing not to participate. With inflation up over 7%, Black Friday online spending still grew by 2.3% year-on-year.

With customers focused on savings, free shipping has become a top priority for holiday shoppers. To stay competitive, it's crucial to plan your Black Friday deals in advance, offering attractive discounts and fast and free shipping. Partnering with a solution like Easyship can help you find affordable shipping rates, allowing you to save on shipping costs while meeting customer expectations.

Do UPS, USPS, FedEx, and DHL Ship During Black Friday?

During the Black Friday rush hour, the big headache in the global supply chain is the worry of late deliveries. Fortunately, UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, and other major courier services offer Black Friday shipping.

Below are lists of the latest send-by dates to have your packages delivered by Christmas from major courier companies:

Shipping with USPS

Shipping with UPS

Shipping with FedEx

3 Tips on Optimizing Your Website to Boost eCommerce Sales

The holiday season is just around the corner. So it’s time for online store owners to plan out a well-thought-out eCommerce strategy.

One primary strategy to put in place is to optimize your eCommerce website to boost your sales. Having said that, there are three practical tips to follow to maximize your website readiness for the holiday frenzy shopping season.

1. Create a seamless checkout process

It's essential to keep the process as simple as possible to reduce eCommerce cart abandonment rates and increase sales. In addition, offering your customers more shipping options and giving them complete visibility helps create a seamless checkout experience.

Ultimately, you want to move the customer smoothly throughout the checkout process without any confusion. That’s why it’s vital to make mobile checkout simple to provide your customers with easy and fast-purchasing ability.

Easyship offers the cheapest and fastest shipping options for your store at checkout with real-time shipping rates. This way, your customers can stay happy while minimizing cart abandonment amongst users. We automatically calculate the best shipping options for your customers from over 250+ shipping solutions.

2. Optimize user experience

User experience plays an integral role in eCommerce. It eases navigation on your site, turning your site into a highly responsive one. Plus, making your site usable for all users will help retain your customer base after the holiday.

An eCommerce site with poor navigation can easily confuse and disorient consumers. Instead, the design should guide shoppers into the store to convert more sales. KoMarketing claims that you can lose 37 percent of your customers due to poor website design.

Ultimately, you want to make it easier for your customers to explore all the options your brand has to offer. Today's biggest demand is mobile optimization, which allows consumers to perform multiple tasks simultaneously on the go.

Above all, a site with an optimized user experience converts more. Plus, customers stay longer on a site with an optimized user experience without knowing. And the longer they stay, the higher the tendency of more purchases.

3. Create an exceptional customer experience

As the eCommerce space grows incredibly, maintaining customer trust and loyalty is always a top challenge. However, when an eCommerce business isn't customer-centric, this leads to negative customer satisfaction. This is why businesses want to prioritize customers interactions so they can better understand how to provide a good customer experience.

Eighty percent of businesses think they provide a great customer experience, but only a tenth of customers agree. Therefore, eCommerce businesses must enhance customer service to meet customer expectations, or businesses risk losing customers to their competitors.

Plus, 83 percent of your customers need a form of customer support throughout their online shopping experience for peace of mind. This is where Easyship can help to help create a positive customer experience.

Easyship’s team of shipping experts offers 24/7 support. So no matter how big or small your issue may be, Easyship has you covered every step of the way.

How Easyship Can Help With Black Friday 2024

Black Friday's free shipping is the most important factor for shoppers during the holiday shopping season. However, while free shipping is essential for most eCommerce shoppers, not all businesses can afford to offer free shipping.

Many eCommerce brands use different methods to offer free shipping, such as order thresholds or seasonal offerings. Plus, eCommerce brands can access even bigger savings when using a reliable shipping platform to streamline their shipping processes.

Easyship is your ultimate shipping partner for the biggest online shopping event of the year. As the leading shipping and logistics platform, we've cultivated a vast network of over 250 couriers worldwide. This extensive network empowers us to secure some of the best shipping discounts in the industry, giving you a competitive during the Black Friday rush and beyond.

Here's how Easyship can supercharge your Black Friday shipping strategy with massive savings:

• Save up to 65% on USPS First Class Package
• Save up to 89% on USPS Priority Mail
• Save up to 50% on UPS® Ground
• Save up to 85% on USPS Ground Advantage
• Save up to 76% on UPS Worldwide Saver®
• Save up to 91% on DHL eCommerce

Easyship is not just about savings; it's about optimzing and automating your shipping work flow so that is as effective as possible. Boosting your profits and creating a delivery experience customers love.Sign up for a FREE account and get started with our user-friendly shipping tools today:

1. Comparison Tool: Dive into the details with our courier comparison tool, helping you make informed decisions based on various factors beyond just cost
2. Insurance: Secure your packages with up to $10,000 in insurance coverage for peace of mind during transit
3. Tracking: Keep your customers in the loop with custom-branded tracking emails and automatic message alerts, ensuring a smooth delivery experience
4. Shipping Rate Calculator: Compare shipping rates across different carriers effortlessly

Sign up for a FREE Easyship account and get instant access to the best available shipping rates this holiday season

If you found this article informative, you may enjoy the following:

• Here’s Why Holiday Shipping Rates Are Rising
• Cheapest Way to Ship a Package for the Holidays
• 5 Hacks to Simplify Black Friday/Cyber Monday Shipping