Whether to offer free shipping on an ecommerce site is a key question and one with no right answer. Armando Roggio of Practical Ecommerce, in his article: The Free Shipping Equation, makes a case for the ecommerce vendor to treat shipping as a profit center.
Certainly, free shipping incentives on larger orders can help convince a customer to purchase. But if you cut your margins to nothing or shift the cost to the product, you could be shooting yourself in the foot.
Do you have any experiences with offering free shipping that you would like to share?
