1,000-Plus Retailers Participating in Free Shipping Day

By Melissa Campanelli

Today is Free Shipping Day, and more than a thousand retailers are participating. Free Shipping Day was started in 2007, and is a one-day, online-shopping event in which thousands of participating retailers offer free shipping and guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. Big-name retailers are taking part this year, including J.C. Penney, Target, Neiman Marcus and T.J. Maxx, among hundreds of others. To participate, the retailer has to offer free shipping with no minimum purchase on Dec. 16, 2016, with delivery by Christmas Eve.

Total Retail's Take: Participation among retailers in Free Shipping Day has grown each year it's been in existence. While retailers and consumers may be excited about this day, delivery companies probably aren't (at least in terms of handling the increased volume). FedEx is predicting a 10 percent increase in packages from last year, while UPS expects to deliver more than 700 million packages this holiday season, up 14 percent from 2015. Even though the two major carriers have denied having trouble keeping up with demand, the rush of packages likely to come from Free Shipping Day could change that.

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Melissa Campanelli Author's page Melissa Campanelli is Editor-in-Chief of Total Retail. She is an industry veteran, having covered all aspects of retail, tech, digital, e-commerce, and marketing over the past 20 years. Melissa is also the co-founder of the Women in Retail Leadership Circle.