3 ms·

It could be more cost effective when the packages are shipped separately. The seller can process the gift packages in batch. It's more flexible when they decide

It could be more cost effective when the packages are shipped separately. The seller can process the gift packages in batch. It's more flexible when they decide not to ship with a gift. And, there's a weight limit for sending a small parcel.

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
Why couldn't they just say that the purchase of a multimeter includes a free gift that will be shipped independently, and then ship the multimeter with the regular tracking and the free gift later using whatever economies of scale you are proposing?
- roel_v 9y ago
  Because that makes your marketing message confusing to the buyer. It seems to me that Asian sellers think it's highly valuable to include a 'free gift'. I've gotten many worthless 'free gifts' (in the same package as the order of the actual product (off AliExpress); so there's no advantage like described in the OP). So I conclude that this whole 'free gift' thing really works with their domestic customers, and many sellers are not sophisticated/specialized enough to realize that for Western buyers, they don't gain anything. Under that world view, a) there is no reason to include the 'separate shipping' thing; and b) adding it makes your ad copy look complicated, to the point of discouraging a sale. If you say 'free xxx with every purchase!', that looks like a good thing. But if you have to add qualifications to it (and I don't mean legally required fine print that you don't actually want customers to read, I mean something you want the customer to internalize), it becomes a bad thing that confuses your marketing message. Just my arm-chair speculation - I've wondered about this and similar issues numerous times over the last years though. So many things seem to illogical in that world, yet they must make someone somewhere money somehow.

3 ms·

It could be more cost effective when the packages are shipped separately. The seller can process the gift packages in batch. It's more flexible when they decide

by dahx4Eev 9y ago

kinkrtyavimoodh 9y ago
Why couldn't they just say that the purchase of a multimeter includes a free gift that will be shipped independently, and then ship the multimeter with the regular tracking and the free gift later using whatever economies of scale you are proposing?
- roel_v 9y ago
  Because that makes your marketing message confusing to the buyer. It seems to me that Asian sellers think it's highly valuable to include a 'free gift'. I've gotten many worthless 'free gifts' (in the same package as the order of the actual product (off AliExpress); so there's no advantage like described in the OP). So I conclude that this whole 'free gift' thing really works with their domestic customers, and many sellers are not sophisticated/specialized enough to realize that for Western buyers, they don't gain anything. Under that world view, a) there is no reason to include the 'separate shipping' thing; and b) adding it makes your ad copy look complicated, to the point of discouraging a sale. If you say 'free xxx with every purchase!', that looks like a good thing. But if you have to add qualifications to it (and I don't mean legally required fine print that you don't actually want customers to read, I mean something you want the customer to internalize), it becomes a bad thing that confuses your marketing message. Just my arm-chair speculation - I've wondered about this and similar issues numerous times over the last years though. So many things seem to illogical in that world, yet they must make someone somewhere money somehow.