L.L.Bean's free shipping on all a trend-setter?

Clothing and outdoors retailing giant L.L.Bean is now offering free shipping, all the time, on all orders, no minimum order needed.

And that's a big deal, says personal finance expert Carmen Wong Ulrich.

"So few sites actually do this, so it's a big discount," she observed to "Early Show on Saturday Morning" co-anchor Russ Mitchell. "A lot of this has to do with just customer service and being the best at customer service because, really, if you go to these sites and see that you're only spending $30 and shipping is $8.95, you're a lot less likely to actually buy."

She added, "Research has shown that, when a lot of folks go to online shop, once they get to that checkout box and they see it's going to cost them $8 to ship, they cancel the order. The majority of people do that. So if you can eliminate that barrier, well, you're going to actually get that business. So whatever they (L.L.Bean) lose to that free shipping and paying for that, they really make up in sales."

The free shipping applies to everything for two-to-five days delivery. "Zappos is the other big one that's always offered free shipping," Wong explained. "This is because they're all about customer service. It's about getting you to actually check out and buy what's there. And also, they're not deep discount sites. Zappos and L.L.Bean are not known for having 80 percent off, so they have to make it about that customer service experience."

Will the practice spread? More and more major sites have been offering free shipping at holiday time, Ulrich pointed out.

Others, such as Amazon, have a membership program: pay $79 and get free shipping throughout the year. "That only makes sense, of course, if you shop often," Ulrich noted.

As you can see in the video with this story, she also discussed other trends in online retailing, especially intensifying use of social media for promotions, and other ways you can get free shipping.