Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) is bringing free of cost delivery for the approaching holiday, in a bid to take edge over its competitors including Wal-Mart Stores, which is avoiding exclusive offers and promoting online customers to grab products from brick-and-mortar stores.
TGT will provide free of cost shipping and returns on all products, beginning from 1st of November, in an effort to boost sales by enticing shoppers to purchase holiday gifts on its site. On the other hand, Walmart shoppers who buy items that cost less than $50 will have to pay shipping charges.
Big retailers have to change their strategies as more consumers make purchases online. Providing free shipping is quite expensive as compared to shoppers buying products from stores. However, many customers won’t buy a product if the retailer isn’t offering free shipping.
An analyst at Edward Jones & Co, Brian Yarbrough said that vendors lose a lot of shoppers without free of cost shipping. Yarbrough said the retailers have discovered that the time when most shoppers cancel their orders online is when they find out the shipping expenses at the end.
It has become a common practice for holiday shoppers to search free delivery deals. Best Buy is also providing free delivery this season. Comparatively, Amazon has different shipping policies. AMZN’s Prime members get free delivery for an annual subscription of $99.
Minneapolis-based Target will be promoting its free-shipping offer through TV ads. The company first rolled out the offer in Christmas last year, in a bid to win back customers following a data breach in 2013.
TGT now delivers products to over 200 countries, including Brazil and China, though it takes fee for that. Similar to Wal-Mart, Target also provides in-store pickups.
