Free or low cost, hassle free shipping can be the deciding point in luxury or fine jewelry purchases
It is the season of giving! According to the National Retail Federation, this past Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday saw $27.5 billion in sales, up from $26 billion last year. In order to find what they may want to purchase, customers turned to searching online and stores, browsing ad circulars, paid attention to catalogs and even logged into Facebook to find inspiration for unique and memorable gifts. More importantly, an interesting fact to note is that they are relying on the retailers to ship their purchases for them.
No matter how your jewelry store is promoting your merchandise, it is not too late to take advantage of shipping deals. Creative shipping ideas can make a last minute sale that puts a great deal of money in your cash register (since 58% of purchases hinge on it). Here are JA New York’s tips for making the most of last minute shipping.
- Offer Free Shipping – and Free Gift Wrapping: Free shipping is a no brainer for retailers. By offering free shipping, you cater to time-strapped customers who do not want to worry about making an extra trip to the post office to mail gifts. By offering to help them avoid lines, they are far more likely to complete a purchase. Sweeten the deal by offering free gift wrapping to go with it. UPS and FedEx both offer their business accounts holiday shipping deals so this should not impact your bottom line very much.
- Use Free Shipping as a Marketing Opportunity: If your customer opts for free shipping, do not let the item go without an opportunity to further market your business to the gift receiver. Include a promotion or special alongside the item that they are getting, it can be a discount on their next purchase or other incentive. If the piece they are getting is part of larger line, you can also include information about the collection so that they have the opportunity to buy more.
- Offer Hassle Free Returns: Instead of offering refunds, simply offer free return shipping and product exchanges or store credit for the receiver. Include a prepaid label and/or information on how you can handle the return for them.
It is important to remember the growth that we are seeing, Deloitte predicts overall e-commerce sales is expected to grow by 17% to 19% over last year’s shopping. Free or low cost shipping is low hanging fruit in your holiday sales kit. No matter how your store shipping process works, as long as you proactively manages the process, you can come out ahead.
Jewelry Resource: U.S. Shipping Date Cut-Offs
- December 15, 2016 — Ground service (Standard Post)
- December 20, 2016 — First-class Mail
- December 21, 2016 — Priority Mail
- December 23, 2016 — Priority Mail Express
- December 19, 2016 — 3 Day Select
- December 22, 2016 — 2nd Day Air
- December 23, 2016 — Next Day Air
- December 12, 2016 — SmartPost
- December 16, 2016 — Home Delivery
- December 20, 2016 — Express Saver
- December 21, 2016 — 2Day
- December 22, 2016 — Standard Overnight
- December 23, 2016 — Same Day City
- December 25, 2016 — Same Day City Priority and Same Day
