Two mega-corporations who have been involved in a tremendous feud for the better part of two decades are Amazon and Walmart. When Amazon was established, Walmart was already a behemoth yet, slowly but surely the former posed a threat that soon became an alarming one for the latter and ever since the two companies have been involved in a bitter rivalry for supremacy in the retail industry. Over the year, the two companies have repeatedly matched many initiatives which the other had introduced, and in a new development, it has emerged that Walmart is also going to offer free one-day delivery to its customers in certain areas in the United States after Amazon had made a similar announcement. In the world of retail, the ground can slip quickly, and it is not really a surprise that Walmart has swiftly matched Amazon’s offer.
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Ever since it was first established, Amazon Prime has proven to be a huge success for the company, and customers get a range of extra benefits for having that membership. In April, Amazon announced that those have Prime memberships will be able to avail this service and this initiative is going to cost the company a whopping $800 million in Q2 2019. Walmart has now decided to offer the same service, but unlike Amazon, it is not going to offer this service on all products. According to reports, the offer will be valid on around 220,000 items, and the total bill would have to come to at least $35 dollars if the customer is to avail of this service.
While Amazon will be spending a lot more on the whole thing, Walmart’s expenses will be lower since it is going to roll out the initiative in only those locations which are close to the company’s warehouses and hence the costs of shipping will be much lower. As of now, the one-day free delivery service will be available in only Las Vegas and Phoenix. However, it is soon going to be made available to customers in California, and the company wants to gradually expand the service to the rest of the country. This has proven to be the latest round of skirmish between two of America’s biggest retail companies, and it remains to be seen how the whole thing pans out over the long term. If Walmart does manage to expand quickly then it could prove to be a masterstroke.
