Free shipping is a marketing tactic used primarily by online vendors and mail-order catalogs as a sales strategy to attract customers.
Additionally, near-universal access to the Internet means that a relatively few warehouse locations can compete with a market without having to deal with amounts of real-estate.
[citation needed] The simplified business model provides potentially lower costs or higher profit margins for remote vendors.
[3] Many shoppers also perceive shipping costs as a barrier to place the order and leave the shopping cart before purchasing.
31.6% of respondents mentioned the latter as a main barrier during the online shopping experience based on Internet Retailer / Bizrate Insight consumer survey conducted in May 2018.