Wal-Mart's Latest Move to Challenge Amazon on Two-day Delivery

Staff Report

Friday, February 3rd, 2017

Walmart announced free two-day shipping to home and stores on more than two million items, without a membership fee. The new offer is available now. With this announcement, Walmart has also lowered the minimum purchase required for free shipping to home to $35, from $50. Items being shipped to stores continue to have no price threshold.

“I couldn’t be more excited. We are moving at the speed of a startup,” said Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce. “Two-day free shipping is the first of many moves we will be making to enhance the customer experience and accelerate growth.”

Walmart’s free two-day shipping will be available on the items customers shop the most, including household essentials such as baby necessities, pet products, food, like cereal and peanut butter, cleaning supplies and beauty favorites, as well as top electronics and toys.

In addition to offering two-day shipping to stores, Walmart continues to offer same-day store Pickup on many items. Pickup is currently available at more than 4,600 stores. The company also continues to offer Online Grocery Pickup at more than 600 locations across the country, with plans to expand the service in the coming year.

“In today's world of e-commerce, two-day free shipping is table stakes. It no longer makes sense to charge for it,” added Lore.