Walmart said to be offering free shipping for online buyers

Wal-Mart Stores Inc plans to offer free shipping on nearly 60,000 gift items, including toys and electronics, when purchased through its website from Thursday, the New York Times reported.

The world’s largest retailer will not raise prices to make up for shipping costs and will not push shippers, such as United Parcel Service Inc and FedEx Corp, to absorb the expenses, the paper said.

“It is the most competitive offer out there, and we are pretty excited about it,” Steve Nave, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart.com, told the New York Times.

There is no minimum purchase required, the paper said.

Competition between Wal-Mart and its rivals, which include Target Corp and Amazon.com, is heating up as the holiday season approaches.

Wal-Mart did not immediately respond to a call for comment from Reuters outside regular business hours.

A recent poll from RBC found that half of U.S. families with young children plan to spend less on holiday shopping than they did last year, and some will spend nothing at all, because of concerns about the economy.
Source: Reuters