Freeload Your Fulfilment with a BFCM Shipping Sugar-Daddy

Amazon Prime Day has come and gone, Click Frenzy is up next, and then it’s the main event: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Throw in Boxing Day if you’re the Nedd Brockmann of sales periods.

The secret to doing well in sales season? Visibility. It’s not just about offering the biggest discounts. It’s being visible when your customers are ready to shop. For most retailers, these two months where the majority of revenue is realised.

But how do you stay visible without letting one discount blur into the next? I’ve got a left-field idea that I want to test with you that was inspired by ING giving Menulog customers free delivery for 6 months. This is what happens when I work from home for a full week.

There are three undeniable truths at this time of year: Retailers are getting eyeballs en masse. Customers love discounts but hate paying for shipping. And non-retail businesses are dying to get a slice of the action.

So, what if retailers teamed up with non-retailers to tap into that audience and offer subsidised shipping? It’s a win-win-win situation. Here's how I see it working:

Say you predict 10,000 orders over BFCM, but 5,000 of those fall below your free shipping threshold. Subsidising shipping on those orders would cost around $50K. To hit that volume, you’ll need 300-500K site sessions, which means you’ll generate 5M+ ad impressions. See where I’m going?

Now, who would want access to this audience? Like-min brands with high customer acquisition costs and lifetime value. If you’re a youth fashion retailer, think education or telcos. If you’re luxury fashion, look at travel. For auto or home, it’s banking or insurance. For food, maybe gyms or wine subscriptions.

I can see it now. “The Mad Hueys free shipping brought to you by Fast Cover Travel Insurance!” It’s a thing of beauty. Or, as part of an election campaign, “Albo shouts you free Clothing The Gaps shipping”. Maybe not so much.

But at this time of the year, you are in the box seat with all the eyeballs. What could you offer partners?

First off, co-branding across all assets—you could make even the dullest brands seem cool. There’s also co-branded advertising (you were going to run ads anyway), “free shipping brought to you by” callouts on your site, and even adding samples or competitions to your parcels for lead generation. Bonus points for scratch-and-sniff cards! You could also tap into post-purchase emails and SMS. And imagine if your partner promotes the offer to their database—double win.

The number one barrier - shipping - is removed for your customer. Your conversion rate jumps, shipping costs disappear, and your partner gets to bask in your brand halo while riding the BFCM wave. And the industry PR? Golden. You’re a genius. In the words of a potential non-retail Add To Cart partner... simples.

You’ve got the channels, the eyeballs, and the timing. Who’s stepping up?

And don’t worry, I’ll be back in an office next week.

Cheers,
Bushy

ECOMMERCE NEWS

Amazon’s AI Shopping Guides Just Raised the Bar for Category Pages 📈
Amazon’s making it even easier to decide between 13 types of air fryers with their new AI Shopping Guides. Using Amazon’s treasure trove of data and generative AI, these guides answer all your burning questions on a single page—like a personal shopper, but digital and with a better personality. Currently available for over 100 categories, but only in the US for now. All of a sudden, product quizzes and comparisons look pretty lame.

Fashion’s Getting Smarter: AI, Bubbles, and Model Switchers 👗
It’s been a big week for fashion search and merch nerds! White Fox Boutique is speeding up search with Fast Simon, while Princess Polly is getting personal— very personal —with Nosto’s "category bubbles" for tall and petite customers, boosting revenue for these groups by up to 66%. And, this one is cool, Blue Bungalow rolled out a Model Selector which allows customers to change the model they see in product page images.

The year-long TikTok Shop tease. But at least we have US data 📊
TikTok Shop continues to string us along in Australia with no launch date in sight. But on the upside, we have insights from the US. Charm, a US merch insights platform - specialising in TikTok Shop insights - released stats from the first 12 months: Beauty & Personal Care, Womenswear, and Health are the top categories - surprise! Top product? A 15-Day Cleanse. Shoot me if that ever makes it into my TikTok algorithm. Fun fact: 54% of sales come from pre-recorded videos, while live streams only made up 22% of sales.

Taco Bell’s ‘Name Your Price’ Tool: A Tasty Deal for the Indecisive 🌮
This is cool. Taco Bell just released a ‘Name Your Price’ tool in their app, letting you slide a pointer to pick your budget and then serving up random meal combos that fit. Can we please also do this for sneakers, holidays and houses. Thank you please.

RecipeTin Eats Serves Up Refund Offer After Booktopia Debacle 💔
I’m torn on whether this is a good or bad story but Australia’s favourite recipe maker, Nagi from RecipeTin Eats, found herself in uncomfortable territory after her second cookbook’s pre-orders got tangled in the Booktopia administration mess. With customer money gone, Nagi posted this week offering personal refunds for those who email her with receipts. A beautiful gesture but one that I hope not many take up. Check out the comments for the impact this gesture had on her followers.

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WORK WITH NATHAN

Nathan Bush is an independent Australian ecommerce transformation consultant, with expertise in marketing, technology, and team leadership. If you're looking for fresh ideas, facing key decisions, or implementing significant investments, I'd love to work with you. Learn more and get in touch.