A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF FREE SHIPPING AND DISCOUNTS ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY

This research investigates the biggest challenges posed to customer loyalty: free shipping and discounts, in the eCommerce environment.In this hyper-competitive world of digital commerce, promotions have garnered much attention in attempting to engage customers and also to develop long-term relations with them.A mixture of data collected from 113 online shoppers and several statistical tests-Chi Square, Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman correlation-are used to research how offers may influence buyer behavior and loyalty toward a brand.The research results demonstrate that free shipping increases perceived value, therefore having a great effect on repeat buying when attached to a program of loyalty.Discounts make offers to the first buyers but make very little, if any, impact on retaining them unless it is assisted by quality service and personalized offers.Another effect mentioned in the study is that over-deployment of deals teaches a customer to delay purchases until offers become available, thus reducing conversions for full-price sales.Overall, the findings imply that promotional offers have to be considered at a strategic level along with customer experience to motivate longterm loyalty.