Is Free Shipping Day the next Black Friday?

Thursday Dec. 18th was Free Shipping Day, when over 1,000 online retailers agreed to offer free shipping on all products with no minimum purchase required, in time for orders to still make it to their destinations by Dec. 24th. Many retailers also chose to offer steep discounts on their items to encourage increased last-minute holiday spending.

The new holiday has exceeded $1 billion in sales over the past two years, and is poised to overtake Black Friday and Cyber Monday for the biggest American shopping day of the year, especially as this year's Black Friday sales performance didn't match expectations.

Nordstrom, Target, REI and J. Crew were among the many businesses who participated in the up-and-coming retail holiday. It's a smart business move for companies to offer free shipping, and most businesses have indeed been working on finding ways to provide the service. Unexpectedly high shipping rates are a well-known reason for digital cart abandonment, and according to news outlet WTOP, 90 percent of consumers actually end up spending more money when offered free delivery on their purchases.

Money.com analyzed many of the deals being offered on Free Shipping Day and found that although some of them outperformed their Black Friday counterparts, others weren't better than sales being promoted on other days of the year. However, in a market environment where Black Friday sales are apparently becoming less attractive, it wouldn't be surprising if Free Shipping Day began to garner more impressive results as the years go by.

If your business is looking for a way to provide its customers with better shipping, then you may want to consider hiring a third-party logistics company to handle all of your delivery needs. Reliable Runners specializes in shipping logistics, so there's no one better to help you create and manage an efficient supply chain.