Are you really out of money? Free shipping may be the deciding factor for Americans to place an order

Under the influence of rising inflation, many Americans have begun to "tighten their belts" and compare prices when shopping online until they find the cheapest.

A recent consumer survey released by the e-commerce platform Wish shows that shipping costs have now become a key factor in determining whether American consumers place an order.

The data shows that 85 % of the respondents said they would give priority to stores that provide free or surface mail services. In addition, most of the respondents said they would hesitate to continue placing an order because of the postage.

Nearly 70% of the respondents said that they were even willing to buy more products in order to qualify for free shipping. From this point of view, they may not really be short of money, but just hope to spend their money wisely.

In addition, the survey also found that consumers nowadays don’t even care much about delivery time, as long as there is no postage. Three-quarters of the respondents said that low postage is the most important, while less than 40% of them think that fast delivery time is important.

Regarding postage, 85% of respondents said they could accept a maximum of US$10 , while 42% said they would prefer free shipping.

In addition, the survey also found that different groups have different consumption habits. Nearly half of the millennials (49%) said they shop online at least once a week, ahead of all other groups.

About four-fifths of Millennials (79%) and Gen Z respondents (81%) said they would be more likely to shop online if shipping was free.

“Online shopping should be a pleasurable experience for consumers, but that experience can often be soured if consumers are stung by high shipping costs,” said Mauricio Monico, chief commercial officer of Wish Products. “This survey shows that sellers need to make shipping as cheap as possible if they don’t want consumers to abandon their orders before checkout.”

Wish and strategic insights agency Opdium surveyed 2,000 U.S. consumers aged 18 and over in January 2023. Most respondents described themselves as millennials, Gen Z or baby boomers, and more than half had an annual income of less than $50,000.

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