UPS, Forrester Research Reveals Free Shipping Trends

| MCM staff

Parcel delivery giant UPS commissioned Forrester Research to do a study on retailers and free shipping offers. Forrester Research principal analyst Sucharita Mulpuru and UPS marketing manager Kiel Harkness released their findings last week at IRCE 2011. Here are the five key findings of the report.

Pros and Cons of Making Free Shipping Standard

| Tim Parry

Shipping is the second largest cost center for most direct merchants, with labor being number-one, says Bill Kuipers, president of operations consultancy Spaide, Kuipers & Co. But if a merchant has a handle on its shipping contracts, it can make such free shipping offers work, he says.

FedEx and UPS to Get Greener in 2011

| Rob Martinez

The carriers have long tried to minimize costs and maximize environmental stewardship through a variety of initiatives including recycled packaging, aircraft noise reduction, fuel efficiency engineering, and alternative power sources in addition to many other efforts.

Summer Cargo Crisis Eases Up

| MCM staff

It was widely reported this summer that retailers were paying at least twice as much as last year in cargo freight costs, thanks to rising demand for imports combined with shrinking space on cargo ships. The situation in early summer had some merchants fearing they wouldn