Multichannel Merchant

Fort Collins, CO. – You’ve heard about Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which have become household names in the holiday shopping vocabulary. Luke Knowles believes that, as early as this December, Free Shipping Day will emerge as a widely known event among cost-conscious consumers during the holiday shopping season.

Last December 18, procrastinators and retailers alike embraced the inaugural Free Shipping Day , which represents the last possible 24-hour period when online shoppers can place their orders with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. This year’s Free Shipping Day will be held on December 17, and retailers are confident that consumers will once again favorably respond.

From Bloomingdale’s, JC Penney, Kohl’s and Macy’s to Victoria’s Secret, Williams-Sonoma and Zappos.com, more than 250 retailers participated in last year’s Free Shipping Day. Knowles expects that number to top 500 this year. Many retailers will announce their participation in early December, but so far merchants like Toys R Us, Babies R Us, FAO Schwartz, eToys, Baby Universe and Crate Barrel have confirmed they will be involved.

Knowles - who created FreeShipping.org with his wife, Maisie, in 2007 - hatched the idea for Free Shipping Day just two weeks before the event last December. In an abrupt brainstorm, he thought that retailers would relish the opportunity to extend the online holiday shopping season, which typically peaks in early December because consumers are concerned about their gift orders arriving to their intended destination in time for Christmas.

Knowles expected a favorable response from retailers and consumers last year, but he didn’t anticipate the overwhelming interest that the event actually received. The FreeShippingDay.com web site saw over 250,000 visitors in a 10-day period, including more than 100,000 on the actual day itself. Regional and national media outlets (including Woman’s Day, Smart Money, Oprah.com and numerous newspapers and TV stations) covered the event. Knowles projects that more than 500 retailers will participate in this year’s Free Shipping Day.

“We are finding that a wide range of retailers are contacting us to participate in free Shipping Day,” said Knowles, whose site, www.FreeShipping.org , is a one-stop destination for consumers to find online retailers that offer free shipping deals. “Last year, even though the event was put together in a short time frame not long before Christmas, we generated a lot of media attention, and that caught the interest of merchants. Now, with a full year of planning for the event, we expect to double the number of participating retailers.”

Retailers large and small embraced Free Shipping Day. For larger merchants, the event provides an additional forum to increase sales without having to draw customers into their physical locations. Some small online retailers set a single-day record for traffic because of their participation. The presence of their respective logos on the Free Shipping Day web site created substantial exposure the businesses otherwise would not have seen.

Free of charge, businesses can participate in Free Shipping Day and have their logo and free shipping offer posted on the home page of FreeShippingDay.com by visiting the site and filling out a form.

“Even though we have good intentions to get our holiday shopping done early, we as consumers tend to wait until the last second because of our busy lives,” Knowles said. “Free Shipping Day is the perfect shopping event for procrastinators, and retailers love the idea because it extends the online holiday shopping season since consumers know that they can place an order on December 17 and it will arrive at the intended destination by Christmas Eve day.”

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Free Shipping Day is an event which represents the last possible 24-hour period when retailers can guarantee on-time delivery by Christmas Eve by shoppers. The first event – which was held on Thursday, December 18, 2008 – attracted more than 250 retailers and 250,000 visitors on the Free Shipping Day web site, including more than 100,000 visitors on the actual day itself. Free Shipping Day 2009 will be held on Thursday, December 17. For more information, visit www.freeshippingday.com.