AmazonOpens a New Window. said Monday that free one-day delivery has been added to more than 10 million items — an announcement that seems to take a shot at its rival WalmartOpens a New Window., which launched its own next-day delivery initiate in May.
Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce company said the products, ranging from Echo devices to household items, will qualify for free next-day delivery in the U.S. to those with a Prime membership.
“Today, the most popular one-day items range from books, beauty and baby wipes to devices, dish detergent and doggie bags,” Amazon wrote in a blog post on Monday.Opens a New Window. “In other words, Prime Free One Day is already 10 times larger than the original two-day offering launched in 2005.”
AmazonOpens a New Window. said it began offering next-day delivery on a trove of products in April and will continue adding millions of items, but the exact date of the complete rollout was not revealed. Prime members who pay $119 a year aren’t required to meet a minimum purchase amount for the new next-day delivery option. Amazon previously offered one-day shipping on select items and free same-day delivery for those whose orders were $35 or more.
Currently, more than 100 million items qualify for two-day delivery through Prime.
Amazon’s announcement comes just weeks after Walmart announced it was offering next-day delivery to online shoppers. The option, however, is only available to 220,000 products in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Southern California, but shoppers don’t need a membership to take advantage of the perk.
The only caveat: customers will need to purchase items of $35 or more to be eligible. Walmart said it was planning to expand next-day delivery to most of the U.S. by the end of the year.
