Although most shoppers still buy products in physical stores, online shopping continues to grow by leaps and bounds. The ease and convenience of pointing and clicking on the things we want, of which there is a seemingly infinite supply on the web, is unmatched by any “real life” shopping experience. The deals aren’t bad either.
But one of the most annoying aspects of shopping online is having to pay for delivery. For many people, paying shipping costs is a deciding factor that prevents them from fully converting to online commerce.
No one likes to pay money to wait a week or more for purchased products to reach their destination. Someone walking into a store can instantly grab the product, pay, and walk out the door. If the customer wants his items faster, like the next day, he’s prepared to pay an arm and a leg. Pointing and clicking online is fun, but nobody likes paying for the privilege of waiting for items to arrive.
Nobody likes to pay extra money on top of the cost of the product. Sometimes the total cost can be cheaper than buying the product in real stores if the buyer gets a big discount, but shipping is often a significant extra expense. This is especially true if the product is large, heavy, or originates from a distant location.
Worst of all, sometimes customers pay for shipping, only to receive damaged or missing products at the other end. It does not matter if this is the fault of the sender or the delivery service. Worse still if the items don’t even reach their destination. If someone steals the package from a door, it’s often hard to prove otherwise. There is nothing worse than paying for shipping and having the service fail.
The final problem with paying for delivery is dealing with returns. If the product turns out to be faulty, or the customer just doesn’t like it, they often have to pay the return shipping costs out of pocket. This is in contrast to a normal store: if the product is not correct, simply return it, free of charge. However, with online shipping, the customer should not only pay the shipping cost, but also pay the return costs. Double-dipping in shipping can sour a customer’s experience.
