Holiday Season Battles Heat-Up with Amazon Offering Free Shipping to Everyone

Free Shipping with No Minimum Purchase

In an attempt to capture more of the market during the holiday shopping rush, Amazon has announced it is giving customers even more convenient and faster delivery options.

Starting today, November 5, and for a limited time, all Amazon customers can enjoy free shipping with no minimum purchase amount on orders that will arrive in time for the Christmas holiday.

This offer applies to hundreds of millions of items – the largest free shipping selection in the country.

Plus, tens of millions of Prime members can shop with FREE Same-Day Delivery, now available on more than three million items – the largest same-day selection in the U.S. including the best gifts like toys and electronics, as well as home, fashion and everything you need to enjoy the holidays.

Target, Walmart, vs Amazon

As reported by the Verge, The promotion comes as Target last month introduced free two-day shipping in an attempt to capture more of the market during the holiday shopping rush.

Walmart offers free two-day shipping on orders of $35 and up.

Amazon’s promotion will further ratchet up the pressure on these incumbent retailers, making it cheaper still to buy online from the company that recently hit a $1 trillion valuation.

Amazon already spent a record $7.3 billion on shipping during last year’s holiday quarter, and this promotion is likely to push this cost higher still.

The move comes after Amazon's recent earnings report where revenue rose 29 percent to $56.58 billion but was below the $57.05 billion analysts expected. Sales were $43.7 billion in the year-earlier period.

Historical Holiday Sales and 2018 Forecast

Historical holiday sales (in billions)

Source: U.S. Census. Reflects May 25, 2018 Census revisions for 2013-2017.

Retailers can expect a robust holiday shopping spree this year. Sales in November and December - excluding automobiles, gasoline, and restaurants - are expected to increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent over 2017 for a total of $717.45 billion to $720.89 billion, according to figures from the National Retail Federation.

“Thanks to a healthy economy and strong consumer confidence, we believe that this holiday season will continue to reflect the growth we've seen over the past year.”

Image: New ways Amazon is #DeliveringSmiles this holiday

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