Last year, “free shipping” offers were as ubiquitous at online stores as screaming kids at the mall. The prevailing wisdom was that free shipping was an absolute necessity to coax cost-sensitive consumers to shop online.

What a way to sell yourself short! Online retail is a different experience than shopping at a mall, and in many ways better. Savvy consumers LOVE internet shopping — heck, many would even pay a premium to NOT fight their way through a mall parking lot. This year, I’m glad to see that retailers are becoming smarter and more selective about their offers, as Jessica Vascellaro reports in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“Free shipping” is a price cut born out of an inferiority complex. Instead, we need to improve the online experience to the point that average, mass-market consumers love Internet shopping as much as they love the mall. That’s the way to turn “free shipping” into a selectively-deployed promotional tool — and stop using it as a psychological crutch for insecure etailers.

Filed under: ecommerce, marketing, strategy