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Did Amazon just crush Target and Walmart’s free holiday shipping moves?

Written by George Anderson

Source: Amazon.com

Americans do not like having to pay shipping charges, particularly at Christmastime. Now Walmart, Target and Amazon.com are trying to outdo each other in this respect as they seek to entice consumers to get in the holiday shopping mood.

Walmart was the first out of the gate when it announced last month that it was expanding its free two-day shipping on millions of items sold by third-party sellers on its online marketplace. Customers must spend a minimum of $35 on qualified items to get the deal.

Target followed the next day by offering free two-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of items with no minimum purchase required at all.

Now Amazon has announced that it is offering free ground shipping on hundreds of millions of items for the holidays with no minimum purchase or Prime subscription required. Prime members will still be able to get free same-day, next-day or two-day delivery on qualifying products.

So with all the various offers to choose from, which ones are Americans likely to choose? Results from Deloitte’s 33rd annual “Holiday Survey” may shed some light. It found:

  • Convenience (77 percent) and free shipping (72 percent) are the top two reasons that consumers shop online;
  • Sixty-one percent plan to buy products online that qualify for free shipping;
  • Eighty-eight percent prefer free shipping over fast shipping (two days);
  • Sixty-six percent are willing to wait three to seven days to receive their orders if shipped free;
  • Forty-seven percent shop in stores to avoid having to pay for shipping costs.

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