From years of tracking promotions, we know that free shipping incentives have risen steadily across all consumer retail sectors. On the offline side, our MarketTrends studies show that 24% of apparel catalog campaigns included a free shipping incentive in 2009, up from 21% in 2008. Similar growth was seen in non-apparel catalogs.
For online, the story has been much the same, but the data is more telling. In addition to retail competitive activity, search data also helps us gauge consumer interest and intent with regard to free shipping. And today’s shoppers are very interested in free delivery, and more so every year.