- Amazon is offering free shipping to all customers for a limited time starting Monday.
- It marks the first time in recent memory that Amazon has removed the minimum order requirement for its free super-saver shipping tier.
- The offer applies to Amazon’s delivery window of five to eight days from when an item ships. Prime members will still get their stuff in two days.
- The move intensifies the war for online customers this holiday season and comes after Target announced free two-day shipping for all customers.
Amazon won’t be sidelined by brick-and-mortar stores this holiday.
The e-commerce giant is offering free shipping to all customers this holiday season, starting Monday. Amazon didn’t say when the promotion would end but described the duration as “limited.”
It marks the first time in recent memory Amazon has removed the minimum order requirement for its free super-saver shipping tier. The minimum amount to qualify for free shipping has dropped over the years, to $25 from a high of $49.
It may be because Amazon wants to compete with big-box stores that are also offering free-shipping promotions for the holidays. Most notably, Target announced last month that it would offer free two-day shipping to all customers until December 22, with no order minimum. Best Buy also removed its free-shipping threshold but gave no time guarantee.
The promotion is good for Amazon’s five-to-eight-day shipping speed. Prime members will still get free two-day shipping.
Read more: Online retailers are in a bitter competition for holiday shoppers — and customers are winning
Amazon seems to have reacted to pressure from rivals’ shipping offers before. Its $49 free-shipping threshold didn’t last long after Walmart in January 2017 unveiled a policy of free two-day shipping with every order of at least $35. Amazon lowered its threshold twice that year, to $35 and then $25.
The war for online holiday shoppers is already off to a roaring start, and Amazon is preparing to take the lion’s share of online shopping again this season. Analysts have estimated that Amazon accounted for nearly half of all online Black Friday sales in 2017 and that it is likely to account for even more this year.
Most of this year’s holiday sales growth is likely to come from online purchases — Forrester Research predicted 14% sales growth online over last year and 1.7% growth in stores. Forrester also estimated that online holiday sales would account for more than 32% of all online sales for the year.
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