NEW YORK, NY, October 27, 2008 — Alexander Interactive, a leading ecommerce strategy, design and development agency, today announced the availability of a whitepaper that analyzes free-shipping trends heading into the 2008 holiday season and offers detailed recommendations to help online retailers maximize holiday sales in a difficult economy.
Click here to download the whitepaper or read the full article here.
Ecommerce merchants face significant challenges as they plan for the upcoming holiday season. High fuel prices have made shipping more expensive, and an uncertain economy has slowed sales and escalated consumer demand for value. Ai’s whitepaper, "Free Shipping: Holiday Hit or Headache," examines this year’s anticipated free-shipping trends, provides industry and consumer perspectives on free shipping and details recommended strategies for maximizing sales.
The whitepaper is the first in an Ai series designed to arm ecommerce merchants with information and ideas to help build their businesses.
"Ai partners with many mid-size merchants now in the process of making critical decisions about free-shipping promotions for the holidays," says David Wertheimer, director of strategy at Alexander Interactive and author of the whitepaper. "This whitepaper offers insights and guidelines to help them make decisions that drive sales and customer satisfaction in what is expected to be a highly competitive season."
Last year, shop.org reported that 71 percent of ecommerce sites offered free shipping with conditions like minimum orders, while 37 percent offered free shipping without conditions. Retailers are expected to pull back somewhat this year, but the pressure will be intense to keep up with the competition’s offers. Ai's whitepaper addresses shipping promotions as well as other tactics for driving value-minded sales.
"We understand that online retailers are heading into what may be one of the most competitive holiday seasons yet, and we wanted to help them navigate those choppy waters," says Alex Schmelkin, co-founder and president of Alexander Interactive. "This whitepaper is the first in a series aimed at giving online retailers fresh industry perspectives and valuable recommendations for growing their businesses."
Ai’s whitepaper, "Free Shipping: Holiday Hit of Headache," is available for download here or read the full article here.
