Amazon’s move to offer all shoppers, not just its Prime members, free two-day shipping marks a clear move to one up Target and Walmart this holiday season.
In an unprecedented, “you will not outdo us, Target and Walmart,” gesture of defiance, Amazon is offering free two-day shipping for all shoppers this holiday season, escalating the delivery wars like never before.
The news follows its mass-merchant rivals’ recent moves to sweeten the delivery pot for gift buyers for retail’s make-or-break selling period.
Target last month said it will be the first U. S. retailer to offer free two-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of items from Nov. 1 to Dec. 22, waiving its usual $35 fee and the requirement to use its Target RedCard.
And on Nov. 1, Walmart started offering free shipping for the holidays on purchases $35 and up.
Las Vegas – Circa July 2017: Amazon.com Fulfillment Center. Amazon is the Largest Internet-Based Retailer in the United States IV
Now Amazon, which has never shied away from sacrificing profits if it means siphoning shoppers — and market share — from competitors, is going one better, waiving its $25 minimum purchase requirement.
Starting today and for a limited time, all Amazon shoppers will get free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on hundreds of millions of items, a perk that until now had been reserved for its paying Amazon Prime members.
Amazon says the promotion avails consumers to “the largest free-shipping selection in the country… including the best gifts like toys and electronics, as well as home, fashion and everything you need to enjoy the holidays,” a company statement read.
Making sure that its Prime members also feel rewarded, those devotees have now been granted free same -day delivery on more than three million items for the holidays.
And in a bid to ease their holiday-cooking plans, Prime members in more than 60 cities can get their food deliveries in as little as an hour from Amazon-owned Whole Foods via Prime Now.
In the eyes of shoppers, online purchases delivered at no cost is shifting from a nicety to an expectation, and retailers are getting the message. As a result, “free shipping will prove to be a mandate this season, as 72% of all orders will ship for free,” an increase over last year, according to consumer insights and predictions for the 2018 holiday shopping season from Salesforce.
Amazon has a unique advantage in the battle for free-shipping hungry shoppers this holiday season, said Frank Poore, CEO of CommerceHub, a technology firm that helps retailers like Walmart and Best Buy manage e- commerce inventory. They have « millions of SKUs… while other retailers are merely playing catch up, » offering only a fraction of their product range, Poore told me last month.
« And unlike Amazon, which has around 100 distribution centers around the country, most retailers have five or less. »
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