Every growth conversation eventually reaches upsells, bundles and apps. Meanwhile the humblest AOV lever sits in the shipping settings: a free-shipping threshold, visibly displayed while the shopper builds a cart. Shoppers reliably stretch to reach free delivery — often adding more than the shipping fee they're avoiding, which is precisely the point.
Picking X
- Start from your current AOV, not a round number you like. A threshold ~20–30% above typical cart value is reachable with one added item; double the AOV is a fantasy nobody chases.
- Check the unit economics at the threshold: the margin on the stretch item should comfortably cover the shipping you're now eating.
- Zone-aware beats one-size: far lanes cost multiples of metro rates — a single national threshold quietly loses money on the edges. Different zones can carry different thresholds.
Showing it is half the lever
A threshold buried in the shipping policy does nothing. The version that works sits in the cart: '₹50 away from FREE shipping' with a progress bar that fills as items go in, and flips to a green tick at the line. The shopper does the maths because the interface did it first.
Pair it with honest COD pricing
Free shipping and COD fees are two ends of one pricing story: delivery cost exists, and you choose where it's visible. Free-above rewards bigger carts; a transparent COD fee prices the risk of cash; a prepaid discount rewards commitment. Shown together, per payment method, they nudge the same shopper toward the order you actually want — bigger and prepaid.
Set it, show it, and check it quarterly against your real courier bills. Thresholds rot silently as rates and AOV drift.
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