'Tis the season
for online shopping, especially if Amazon is your go-to destination. The mega
online retailer announced it will offer free shipping on all holiday orders in
time for Christmas, doing away with a minimum purchase price — even if you
aren't a Prime member.
The company had
previously set a
threshold of $25 for orders to qualify for free shipping, but Amazon
will waive that requirement starting Monday, according to the company. Hundreds
of millions of items will therefore become eligible for free shipping.
Prime members,
who are already entitled to free two-day shipping, will also receive a new
perk: More than 3 million items will be available for same-day delivery during
the holiday season.
The move comes after Amazon's recent earnings report
where revenue rose 29 percent to $56.58 billion, but was below the $57.05 billion
analysts expected. Sales were $43.7 billion in the year-earlier period.
For the current
quarter ending in December, Amazon said it expects revenue in the range of
$66.5 billion to $72.5 billion. Analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research
had expected revenue of $73.87 billion.
Retailers can
expect a robust holiday shopping spree this year. Sales in November and
December — excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants — are expected to
increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent over 2017 for a total of $717.45 billion
to $720.89 billion, according to figures from the National Retail
Federation.
"Thanks to
a healthy economy and strong consumer confidence, we believe that this holiday
season will continue to reflect the growth we've seen over the past year,"
the group said in a statement.
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