Wal-Mart is taking another crack at Amazon.com, launching a free, two-day shipping program without a membership fee for more than 2 million items, the company announced Tuesday.
The retail giant’s delivery service is replacing a program that offered free shipping with an annual fee.
Free shipping will now be available for purchases of $35 and up. The threshold previously was $50.
The move is seen by some as a way to compete against Amazon’s Prime subscription program, which analysts estimate has 65 million users who spend $99 for a yearly membership. Unlike Wal-Mart’s ShippingPass, it includes television shows and movies, music streaming, and data storage.
Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics LLC, told The Associated Press that Wal-Mart’s effort isn’t enough.
“They should eliminate the threshold altogether,” Perkins Winxbet said. “I know it’s a difficult pill to swallow. But if you look at how things are going, click-and-pick is never going to be as popular as click-and-ship.”
Items outside the list of most popular items will count toward free shipping but not faster delivery, the AP reported.
Wal-Mart’s previous program, ShippingPass launched in 2015. It allowed members to buy a million items for free shipping online. The annual fee was $49 last year.
Wal-Mart has 11,593 store in 28 countries.
Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans
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