Free shipping has become a dominant promotional mechanism in e-commerce and social commerce, frequently combined with discounts, flash sales, vouchers, personalization cues, and interface persuasion techniques. This rapid review synthesizes findings from 27 studies (2023–2026) examining the impact of free shipping and related promotional cues on purchase intention, impulse buying, consumptive behaviour, cart abandonment, and consumer decision-making. Evidence indicates that free shipping increases purchase intention and buying decisions across multiple contexts (Shopee, TikTok Shop), yet its effect is inconsistent for impulse buying, where discounts and scarcity mechanisms often outperform shipping incentives. Field experimental evidence shows that free shipping retargeting can convert abandoned shopping into purchases, particularly in later stages of the customer journey. However, studies frequently rely on cross-sectional survey methods and narrow samples (students/local areas), limiting causal inference and generalizability. Recommendations include optimizing shipping promotions strategically (stage-based targeting), combining free shipping with trust and review cues, designing consumer protection mechanisms against excessive consumptive behaviour, and encouraging robust future research designs (experiments, longitudinal studies).
Joshi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.