Amazon and Walmart have been playing a game of cat and mouse over the past few years, with the Arkansas-based retailer doing most of the chasing.
But Tom seems to have caught Jerry off guard this time.
A few weeks ago, Walmart announced it would offer free two-day shipping to anyone who buys at least $35 worth of goods. It was a direct attack at the change Amazon made about a year ago, which increased the minimum required purchase for free shipping up to $49.
Now it appears the online retailer isn’t going to let one of its biggest rivals get away with it. Amazon has quietly lowered the minimum required price for free shipping to match Walmart at $35. And those who don’t use Amazon’s Kindle products will benefit from free shipping on all book orders of just $25 or more.
An Amazon spokeswoman confirmed the new pricing with CNET, but declined to give specifics about when and why the change happened. It also did not confirm two-day shipping for the non-Prime orders.
An estimated 44 percent of American homes subscribe to Amazon Prime. Walmart has been trying a number of techniques to steal a portion of that crowd, but hasn’t found much success. Its latest bid goes after the other 56 percent not signed up for Prime by offering the two-day shipping perk of Prime without the price.
One area Walmart will continually struggle with is the sheer size of Amazon’s online marketplace, which offers more than 250 million products. That, along with the millions of reviews to help guide customer’s buying decisions, makes it difficult for the once-leading retail corporation to regain its title.