Let’s talk about the eternal struggle of e-commerce: getting people to actually complete a purchase. You’d think running an online store would be simple—offer cool stuff, people buy said cool stuff, profit. Right? Wrong. The real obstacle in e-commerce isn’t convincing people they need your product; it’s convincing them that paying for shipping isn’t a personal attack on their finances.
It’s a well-documented phenomenon that customers will gleefully spend £50 on scented candles they don’t need but will abandon their cart in outrage over a £3.99 shipping fee. “What do you mean, I have to pay for you to physically transport my purchase to my doorstep?” Suddenly, it’s an injustice of epic proportions, a betrayal akin to being ghosted by your own grandmother.
And yet, the same people who recoil at shipping fees will drive across town, using petrol they paid for, to pick up something from a store in person. The logic? Non-existent. But hey, at least they saved that £3.99, right?
The psychology behind this is fascinating. Free shipping isn’t just a perk—it’s a demand, an unspoken rule of online shopping. The moment a customer sees those dreaded words, “Shipping calculated at checkout,” they’re out of there faster than a cat knocking over your favourite mug. Meanwhile, if you bake the cost of shipping into the price and offer “Free Shipping on All Orders,” people throw their money at you like you’re a rockstar on payday.
Retailers have caught on to this, of course. They’ll charge £30 for a product that would normally be £25 plus £5 shipping, and customers will sing their praises. “Wow, free shipping! Such a great deal!” The irony is lost on all of us.
Amazon Prime has a lot to answer for in this regard. It’s trained people to expect free shipping as a default, even though they’re still paying for it—just in a sneakier way. Whether they’re forking out an annual subscription fee for benefits they may not even use (seriously, how many Prime members actually watch Prime Video?) or just not realizing that the cost is absorbed elsewhere, the illusion of free shipping has taken hold. And now, anything less feels like daylight robbery.
So, what’s the lesson here? If you run an e-commerce store and want to survive in this absurd landscape, you have two choices: either offer free shipping (by sneakily raising your prices) or prepare for customers to act like you’ve personally insulted their ancestors by asking them to cover the cost of logistics.
Because at the end of the day, we’re all irrational beings, and nothing gets us quite as worked up as the idea of paying for something that technically makes perfect sense. Except, of course, when we’re ordering takeout—because somehow, a £5.99 delivery fee for lukewarm chips is completely acceptable.
#TheMoreYouKnow #EcommerceLogic #FreeShippingOrBust