Shipwire Supports Free Shipping Day to Drive Online Sales for Merchants

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - December 16, 2009) - Free Shipping Day is quickly gaining notoriety as a one-day online shopping event that rewards shoppers who do their last-minute Christmas shopping at home. On this day, scheduled for Thursday, December 17, merchants will offer customers free shipping, and guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve. Now in its second year, it joins the ranks of Black Friday and Cyber Monday as a traditional Christmas shopping affair. But Free Shipping Day is far more than mere tradition, it is an event that Shipwire customers embrace to drive ongoing sales through the holiday.

Shipwire, the leading e-commerce order fulfillment company, believes free shipping promotions drive online sales. Statistics support this notion: In a recent article on MediaPost.com, market research company ComScore says during the week of November 22, "transactions with free shipping accounted for 50 percent of online sales -- 11 percent higher than the same week a year ago." Furthermore, ComScore found that for every week since November 8, 2009, online transactions with free shipping have been higher than the same period in 2008.(1)

Free Shipping Day is a great way to test if a free shipping offer is right for your business. While some merchants argue against offering free shipping because it is not profitable, there are a number of things they can do to make it financially worthwhile. They include offering free shipping on small items, with a minimum purchase, or as part of a membership rewards program for returning buyers or buyers that refer additional business to your Web site. For an additional six ways to test free shipping today, visit http://www.shipwire.com/blog

Shipwire merchants have uncovered true ROI beyond Free Shipping Day by promoting free shipping 365 days of the year:

David Wurtz of TopTVMounts.com, an online seller of TV wall mounts, understands the value that free shipping brings to online conversions. "We make shipping a competitive advantage to our online sales by bundling free shipping offers with every purchase. Buyers love free shipping! They want their dollars to go toward the product they purchase -- not toward getting the product to their doorstep."

Joe Alexander of Keetsa.com, an online seller of memory foam mattresses, goes a step further. "We built our entire business around an intelligent supply chain to support our end goal of always offering free shipping to our resellers and customers. Free Shipping Day is a great way to make that point and grow sales at the end of the holiday season."

By taking steps to participate in Free Shipping Day or free shipping in general, merchants may soon find they've converted online visitors into buyers because shipping costs are no longer a barrier to an online sale.

About Shipwire (http://www.shipwire.com)

Shipwire online product fulfillment helps businesses grow sales in the U.S., Canada and Europe by eliminating the hassles of storage and shipping. A simple solution for online sellers -- Send Shipwire some inventory, customers order from you online, Shipwire ships the order from warehouses closest to the buyer, the product arrives faster and for less cost. Learn more about warehouse logistics service; join our shipping affiliate partner program; read our shipping fulfillment distribution blog, Print online USPS postage, plans start at less than $30/month or get a free trial at http://www.Shipwire.com/trial. Shipwire press resource center

(1) "Free Shipping in Subject Line May Drive Holiday Sales," MediaPost.com, December 7, 2009.

Contact Information: CONTACTS: Shipwire Nate Gilmore 888-Shipwire BOCA Communications Ashley Wilkinson 415-738-7718