July, 2017 | Modalyst

Free Shipping on Your Online Store: 4 Benefits Explained

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Lillian Anselmi

The Benefits of Offering Free Shipping on Your Online Store

In today’s age of growing eCommerce, free shipping has become a competitive necessity for online retailers.

While there are certainly several costs associated with offering free shipping, these may be outweighed by the numerous benefits.

When big companies like Amazon first offered their free shipping model a few years ago, it was difficult for every online merchant, especially smaller ones, to follow suit.

However, with growing sales and customer expectations, free shipping has become more common and more beneficial for businesses than ever before.

1. Free shipping can increase your sales revenue

There is no doubt that offering something for free will be appealing amongst your shoppers.

However, having a free shipping option has also been proven to not only increase revenue and sales conversions but also increase customer acquisition.

As Inc.com states, 96% of online consumers are more likely to shop on a site if it promises free shipping.

2. Free shipping can boost average order value

Offering free shipping has also been shown to encourage consumers to buy more online.

Shoppers are incentivized to add more to their carts! In fact, statistics show that 28% of online shoppers will abandon their carts completely if faced with unexpected shipping costs.

Source : Kissmetrics

3. Customers love it!

Offering free shipping is directly associated with customer retention.

It not only will help your business acquire new customers but also will incentivize customers to continue buying from your store.

It also serves as a great marketing tool to advertise and promote your business to potential customers.

According to a poll conducted by the National Retail Federation, 66% of online shoppers declared that having free shipping is a very important deciding factor for them when choosing to make an online purchase.

Source : rjmetrics

4. Free shipping helps rationalize shopping online

As consumers, free shipping helps rationalize buying something online versus driving to the store.

If the cost of shipping an item ends up being too expensive, we can simply abandon our carts and drive down the street.

Free Shipping with Modalyst Products

We just launched a new feature for Modalyst Suppliers who would like to join this movement of free shippers.

In addition to all the benefits listed above, offering free shipping on our platform will be a great opportunity for brands to gain traction and even more exposure.

Retailers are now able to filter for “free shipping” products.

Interested in offering Free Shipping on Modalyst?

Contact team@modalyst.co

P2P Marketplaces : Retail

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Lillian Anselmi

In our last post, we explained the basics of the peer-to-peer (P2P) economy. Today’s post will take an in-depth look at how this market design affects the retail industry and the role of dropshipping in the P2P economy.

Los Angeles mom Evelyne Teman made $500,000 dollars in three years from selling clothes on Poshmark. On Depop, Millennial entrepreneur Bella McFaden(depop username: @InternetGirl) withdrew from College to sell on Depop full time. Like Teman and McFaden, many individuals today use P2P fashion platforms such as Poshmark and Depop as mechanism to get rid of unwanted clothing and as an alternative way to make a living.

Continue reading “P2P Marketplaces : Retail”

P2P Marketplaces: An Introduction

Posted on July 12, 2017 by Lillian Anselmi

A new economy has emerged where individuals want to share resources with each other. For example, people are investing in projects on Kickstarter, renting clothing instead of owning it on Rent-the-Runway and borrowing cars through Zipcar. We want to own less and experience more. This has spurned the rapid growth of peer-to-peer (P2P) economies in the past five years. According to a Pew report in 2016, 72% of Americans have used a P2P service. P2P economies have emerged across numerous sectors including transportation (Uber), hospitality (Airbnb), finance (Kiva), and retail (eBay). If you look at the fashion and apparel sector, you see a huge change in behavior.

Continue reading “P2P Marketplaces: An Introduction”

Dropshipping Supplier Spotlight : Le Chic

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Lillian Anselmi

Joanna Stangreciak is the designer of Le Chic, an international fashion brand. Le Chic joined Modalyst in April of 2013 and has been one of our most successful brands.

Before starting Le Chic, Joanna worked at a fashion accessories company in Los Angeles doing product development and sales for the junior retailer market. She then branched out into designing her own swimwear label.

According to Joanna, the inspiration behind Le Chic was the 2008 recession:

“It was a horrible economy at the time and women were spending less on extravagant, impractical pieces of fashion and investing in classic, versatile styles that compliment the majority of what was in their closets.”

She started her brand with the intention of creating chic accessories that were also affordable and timeless.

Business Practices

Joanna originally began selling her pieces directly to her end-customers. Over the years, however, she has begun focusing on selling her label to brick-and-mortar retailers through Modalyst. Besides Modalyst, Le Chic is featured on Wanelo, Keep, Loehmann’s, Filene’s Basement, and Walmart.

Modalyst is a curated b2b marketplace connecting suppliers and retailers. It is our goal to match our retailers with brands that will be a good fit for them.

Joanna states:

“When looking for an e-commerce retailer to work with, I always looks at their reputation and reliability. These are two key factors that will ultimately affect my reputation as well. In order to build long-lasting, effective, and fruitful business relationships, I believe it is important for both parties to maintain open lines of communication and understanding.”

Joanna is the first to admit that she was not initially a fan of dropshipping. It has proven itself valuable over time, however, as it allowed her to forge relationships with new customers and make her products more available and accessible to a wider audience.

“Dropshipping has become a thing of the present and future–as seen more frequently with Amazon, Jet Blue, and Bed Bath & Beyond–and we all have to keep up with what is trending for the future!”

Check out Le Chic on Modalyst and email team@modalyst.co if you’re interested in being the next supplier in the spotlight!

Learn how to start a successful dropshipping business with Modalyst. Overnight.

Month: July 2017