Will free two-day shipping from third-parties give Walmart an edge for the holidays?

Walmart.com’s primary answer to Amazon Prime has been that it offers free two-day deliveries on orders of $35 or more without a subscription fee. The offer, however, has only applied to goods sold by Walmart. Starting next month, that will begin to change. Walmart announced that it will expand free two-day delivery to millions of items sold by third-party sellers on its marketplace.

In announcing the expansion of its free delivery program, Walmart said that its customers love being able to get orders shipped quickly without having to pay a subscription fee. The company’s site will begin tagging items from hundreds of “high-performing marketplace sellers” and expand the offer going forward.

Walmart also acknowledged the connection between “a great product return experience” and “customer satisfaction and repeat purchases.” To that end, the retailer is looking to expedite the return process for goods purchased from third-party sellers. Customers are now able to sign into their Walmart account and print out a return label to ship unwanted items back to the marketplace vendor. They will also soon have the option of returning these same items to any of the chain’s 4,700 stores.

The latest moves by Walmart are intended to make shopping more convenient for its customers heading into the busiest season for the retailer and its many rivals. Target, CNBC reports, offers free two-day shipping plus a five percent discount on all items purchased by holders of the chain’s REDcard. Customers shopping on Target.com who do not use the retailer’s card get free two-day shipping on eligible orders of $35 or more.

Walmart’s commitment to making shopping easier for its customers took a PR hit last month when The Wall Street Journal reported that the retailer was marking items out-of-stock online when it determined that the cost of delivery was too high because of the distance from its warehouse to the customer’s homes. Individuals who received out-of-stock messages were given suggestions for similar items that were at warehouse locations closer to their homes.

• Just in Time for the Holidays, Walmart Announces Major improvements to its Marketplace – Walmart
• Walmart to expand shipping perks for shoppers ahead of the holidays – CNBC
• Walmart’s two-day shipping pledge comes with a caveat – RetailWire