According to the eHoliday Study released by BizRate Research for Shop.org and Shopzilla prior to the 2007 holiday buying season, free shipping was credited to driving more online sales than any other promotion. Tied to conditions that required customers to purchase a certain item or a certain number of or dollar amount of merchandise, free shipping offers were the top promotions used by big-league retailers to push consumer hot buttons. Last year, 78% of online retailers offered this incentive.

Also in the bag of successful tricks to drive sales: free shipping upgrades (offered by 60% of retailers), discounted shipping (te% or retailers), and free shipping without conditions (41%). Of course, “free shipping” is not free for retailers, so careful anaylization of costs and margins are required before putting free or discounted offers into place.

In addition ot offering free shipping promotions, retailers reported plans to use a variety of other marketing techniques to increase sales. Online shoppers reported that the most important factor to them was good value for the money. Clear product descriptions, a merchant’s reputation, and guaranteed on-time delivery were also important features when deciding where to buy.