If I could, I would do all of my shopping online. I suppose it's a combination of convenience, laziness, and the digital world we live in. And maybe the fact that I just don't like to shop.

But I got to thinking the other day about online shopping and about how I buy products. I don't know about you but if a product doesn't have free shipping I find it's a big deterrent to purchase. Then I asked myself why that is — if I'm purchasing, say, a few bottles of wine, I'll snatch them up online if there's free shipping. But charge me five or ten dollars and I'd just as soon truck down to Total Wine & More on my way home from the office.

So I wonder, does charging for shipping equate to the 'inconvenience' of taking a trip to do your shopping? At least for products that are available both online and in local stores?

Granted, $10 in shipping is probably far less than the value of my time to take a trip somewhere...at least in the case of buying wine. So why is my perception that it's equal? Why is free shipping so important to us and should that affect how we sell / position products online?