David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

LoveHoney, the purveyor of adult toys rather than honey based products, has removed it's free delivery minimum order value threshold in favour of universal free shipping across the entire range.

That means that if you want to order just one whistle or Birthday card, you can do so and not pay any postage.

So is this a good tactic in terms of their affiliates?
 
There's a few options open to retailers when it comes to shipping:

• Ship everything for free
• Ship orders over a certain value for free and the rest for a flat fee
• Ship everything for a flat rate
• Ship everything based on weight

Shipping by weight is the most logical for businesses but is the most complex to get to grips with by consumers. If you are charging £1 plus 10p for every 100g, this can be incredibly complex for customers to work out what they will end up paying.

Shipping everything for a flat rate or for free is easiest for consumers as they know exactly where they are. The business in question could end up losing money on postage but I would expect their margins to be high enough to absorb this cost.

Shipping for a flat rate up to a certain value (e.g. £30) and then for free thereafter encourages the customer to spend more. Everyone loves free shipping! When it comes to Amazon, I reached the £15 threshold on every order last year. It's a goal for the customer to reach.

From an affiliates perspective, shipping by weight is confusing and would result in lower order conversions in my opinion. I would expect a lot of customers to abandon their carts at the checkout as they realise the shipping cost.

Shipping for a flat rate or for free is easy to promote. Customers know exactly what they will pay right from the outset. The only issue here is that I would imagine free delivery sites receiving more orders than paid delivery sites, but with a lower order value. The flat rate shipping would encourage me to shop less often but full my basket to get the best value deal.

The minimum order threshold method encourages a large proportion of the orders to be over the threshold. The benefit here is reasonably consistent sized orders. You could argue that customers with low basket values may not purchase after being penalised with a shipping fee.

So is free delivery good then?

I'd say so. Free delivery is an obvious selling point alone. From an affiliates perspective, I may lose out on commission as the average order value drops but I imagine the volume of orders would proportionally increase. There's no incentive to fill your basket over £30, for example, but at least you can order than £1.99 product with free delivery!

The clever part of LoveHoney's tactic is that they offer free sex toys if you order over a certain value. So, the free shipping may encourage lower order sizes and increased volumes, but it should also keep the larger orders over a certain value. For example, if you have £35 in your basket, you are better off spending an extra £5 to get the free gift (usually worth around £15-£30).

Let's not forget the Deal of The Day offer which can help to generate spontaneous sales whilst the free delivery means the price seen is the price paid.

Overall

My initial reaction was horror! I imagined the order value going to pot. But upon reflection, this move should help to keep regular orders high (with the free gift incentive) whilst allowing the smaller orders to pass without being penalised. This would help them compete better on products such as condoms and lingerie.

I wish them luck with this move and hope it brings increased volume and turnover - through my affiliate links ;-)