Amazon lowers free shipping limit

Amazon has lowered its free shipping minimum for non-Prime members to $35 — a nearly 29% drop. The company had increased its free shipping limit to $49 from $35 almost a year ago.

Items will be delivered five to eight days after they are available to ship. Amazon didn’t specify exactly when the minimum was lowered but did say the change happened “recently.”

Orders that contain at least $25 of eligible books also ship free. Shoppers with an Amazon Prime membership, which costs $10.99 a month or $99 a year, will get unlimited free two-day shipping on eligible items along with other benefits like streaming TV, movies and music.

Walmart and Amazon have been competing for customers as more people turn to online shopping, there are still a few differences between the two retail giants’ shipping policies. At Walmart, you’ll get free 2-day shipping on most orders over $35 or you can pay a fixed $5.99 flat-rate fee for 2-day shipping on orders less than $35. At Amazon, orders over $35 take longer to ship. You have to pay $99 a year or $10.99 per month to get that free 2-day shipping — but there’s no minimum purchase for Prime Members as long as the item is Prime eligible.

 

Walmart started offering free two-day shipping without a membership fee on orders of at least $35 on January 31. It had previously offered unlimited free two-day shipping with its $49-a-year-ShippingPass subscription.

Amazon is seen to be keen on capping Walmart’s push to have a greater share of the ever increasing online market. Walmart recently acquired jet.com, an e-commerce start-up at $3billion in cash and $300 million in Walmart stock. Investors are currently betting on Amazon which brings in a cool $100 billion in revenues from its online business as compared Walmart $15billion. It is important to note Walmart made $500billion in revenues for the last financial year

On Tuesday, Walmart reported its e-commerce revenue increased 29% in the fourth quarter from a year ago. On the other hand, Amazon reported a 22% rise in revenue for the same period.

 

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