In an effort to counter some of online behemoth Amazon.com’s stranglehold, Walmart is touting some new online offers to spark even more customer engagement.
After Amazon.com announced a massive online sales extravaganza for its Prime loyalty program members, Walmart announced it has lowered the threshold for free shipping for online purchases to $35, from $50, for at least 30 days, and on July 15, it will offer discounts on thousands of items online.
Earlier this month Walmart disclosed details of its new $50 per year fee-based delivery program called ‘Shipping Pass,’ which is widely viewed as competition to Amazon Prime with its $99 per year fee. ‘Shipping Pass’ members will receive free three-day shipping for items ordered on Walmart.com.
In a July 13 blog post titled, “Why Every Day is Low Price Day at Walmart,” Fernando Madeira, President and CEO, Walmart.com spoke to the company’s loyal customer base.
“If you’ve shopped Walmart.com, you’ll know that every day is a special day where everyone has access to the same low prices we offer,” Madeira wrote. “We mean everyone: you, your neighbor, your boss, your best friend … all of whom are looking for the best price on the things they want and need. We’ve heard some retailers are charging $100 to get access to a sale. But the idea of asking customers to pay extra in order to save money just doesn’t add up for us.”
Madeira added: “We’re kicking off some awesome deals this week that will be available for everybody with no hidden costs or admission fees, and they won’t be available for just one day. Our customers will see thousands of great deals on Rollback beginning this week along with some special atomic deals (more on that in the days to come). In addition, we’re rolling back our free shipping minimum order to $35 from $50, making it even easier for customers to save on shipping all summer long.”
Only time will tell if Walmart’s strategy wins over more customers.