WebProNews

If you want to move products this holiday season, free shipping will be the benefit your shoppers demand.

Sky-high fuel prices have had an impact on shipping costs. But if you plan on passing those along to your customers in the form of higher shipping costs, and you are in a competitive product segment, think again. And forget about shipping being a profit center for your business too.

The time tradeoff Amazon customers make when they opt for free super saver shipping has become an acceptable one. It's reached a point of being customary, where shoppers expect it to be offered.

Your competitors probably have planned this out in advance. Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org, said about free shipping and other incentives: "Because companies have planned for them as part of their overall marketing strategy, these promotions will not come at the expense of profits."

Shop.org cited research from a study it sponsored, where four out of five shoppers said free shipping would be an important factor when shopping online. More than half of those shoppers (56 percent) go to a specific web site to start shopping.

Don't lose hope, though. 37 percent use search engines to begin their shopping; if you didn't start analyzing and tweaking your search engine marketing in August, now is the time to get to work.

Comparison sites and online auction sites were each only used half as much as search engines. While still useful, they haven't yet reached the familiarity users have with the Yahoo or Google searches people use every day.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.