March 25th, 2011

L.L. Bean Adopts Year-Round Free Shipping Policy

In a major policy change, which could have a ripple effect in the outdoor industry, major catalog retailer L.L. Bean announced on 3/24/2011 that it will offer free shipping on virtually all products, all the time. This free shipping policy was a because L.L. Bean found that 25% or more of its web customers abandoned online orders once they saw the shipping charges in their online shopping cart. L.L. Bean’s website now declares: “Free Shipping: No minimum order, no end date, just free.”

Currently, Cabelas.com regularly offers free shipping promotions, and Amazon.com offers free shipping on major orders totalling $25.00 or more. The adoption by L.L. Bean of an “All free shipping, all the time” is expected to put pressure on other catalogers to follow suit. This may be a good thing for shooters, whose products may be heavier, on average, than the typical consumer purchasing clothing, or travel accessories.

Free Shipping is a Growing Trend in Online Retailing
According to Businessweek.com, we can expect more large companies to offer free shipping: “Andrew Lipsman, an analyst at Internet research firm comScore Inc., says the industry is moving in that direction. He says that in in 2009, 30 to 35 percent of online holiday purchases involved free shipping; this past holiday season, the figure grew to 40 to 45 percent.”

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