Where it gets stuck.
ost material brands hide freight cost until checkout. The reasoning is reasonable — freight is variable, depends on zip code and pallet count, and is hard to quote in advance. The cost of that reasoning is conversion. Customers building a cart of $4,000–$15,000 of tile or stone have to either know freight costs already (they don't) or guess (they overestimate). A customer who overestimates freight either calls sales — losing the unguided path to purchase — or abandons.
Why it happens.
The fix is not to fake a freight estimate; it is to make freight visible as a function of cart content. As a customer adds tile or stone, the cart should show: running pallet count, running weight, LTL vs FTL threshold, current estimated freight rate, and the savings if the customer crosses the next bracket. The number doesn't have to be exact — it has to be present. Customers add more when they understand the freight curve, because they realize that a half-full pallet costs almost the same as a full pallet.
The size of it.
We have built this surface — call it an FTL Simulator — for three brands. The pattern is consistent: AOV lifts 18–32% within 60 days of launching freight visibility. Carts that were stalling at $3,800 because the customer thought they were 'done' suddenly add another $1,400–$2,800 because the customer realizes the freight cost is the same. Freight transparency does not slow purchases; it accelerates them by giving the customer permission to add what they actually need. Hiding freight is a defensive posture that consistently costs more revenue than it protects.
Filed from inside a working engagement. Edited only for client privacy — the numbers and the mechanisms are exact.