Target had recently announced that they will be offering free shipping on every order this holiday season. To that I say – BULLSEYE for Target. (pun intended)

I’ve been a firm believer in the key ingredient to success to an E-Commerce platform is the shipping/courier service. E-Commerce offers shoppers the convenience of being able to shop for the things they want right from the comfort of their own homes, without having to go into the store. But there is only so much I am willing to pay for that convenience. I often find myself paying a visit to the brick and mortar store after having browsed for the products that I’m looking online, simply because the shipping fee was too hefty a price to pay. Sometimes, even with free shipping, the delivery of the product simply takes too long.

I had, in a previous blog post, attributed the success of Taobao to the extremely efficient shipping industry in China. Many Taobao vendors can afford to offer nation-wide free shipping for products that cost less than 10 RMB. Free shipping also doesn’t mean significantly slower delivery in China. It really is no surprise that Alibaba was able to generate $5.9 billion USD of revenue within 14 days of the launch of its Singles Day cyber, which is more than triple the total sales on Cyber Monday in the US. Consumers are comfortable shopping for these products online because they  know that they will be able to receive their purchases in a timely manner.