Wal-Mart Stores (ticker: WMT) has a message for Amazon.com (AMZN): Watch your back.
To compete with Amazon’s second annual Prime Day, the retail behemoth is launching free 30-day access to its ShippingPass service — a clear move to rival to Amazon Prime.
This is a marked difference from Wal-Mart’s last attempt to stifle its competition.
For last year’s Prime Day, the company offered free shipping for purchases totaling $35 or more. Typically, the free shipping threshold is $50. CNBC points out the company had a year to prepare since Prime Day’s inaugural outing.
Details on Amazon’s Prime Day remain elusive.
Fernando Madeira, president and CEO of Walmart.com, didn’t shy away from passive aggressiveness in a company blog post.
“ShippingPass is about half the price of similar programs out there at just $49 a year, and customers who are using it, love it,” Madeira wrote.
The 30-day trial has the potential to be a boon for Wal-Mart, especially when compared to Amazon’s 30-day trial numbers. Consumer Intelligence Research Partners shows about three quarters of these consumers going on to pay for yearly access to Amazon Prime.
The rivalry between Wal-Mart and Amazon is palpable in the retail industry. Wal-Mart made an effort to compete with Prime last month by increasing its delivery speed from three days to two days, reports TechCrunch.
Wal-Mart’s stock price was $71.92 as of Wednesday morning, up 41 cents.
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Wal-Mart Offers Free Shipping to Compete with Amazon Prime originally appeared on usnews.com