WMT Walmart Inc

By Sebastian Herrera 

The next-day delivery war is well under way.

Amazon.com Inc. on Monday said it has made more than 10 million products available for free one-day delivery to Prime members in the U.S., the latest salvo in a battle over speedier shipping speeds with rival Walmart Inc.

The e-commerce giant is touting the arbitrary milestone about three weeks after Walmart announced it would begin offering free next-day delivery shipping on about 200,000 products for shoppers on some orders in a handful of cities. The two rivals have been one-upping each other with announcements of faster shipping options as they seek to cater to ever-demanding online shoppers.

Amazon is vague about its plans for free one-day Prime delivery. It didn't specify which markets the shipping option is available in, only saying it spans "coast to coast." It also wouldn't say when it expects to fully roll out the option to its more than 100 million Prime members.

The products available include some best-selling items such as beauty products, cleaning supplies and beach towels, Amazon said. Ten million products represents a fraction of the more than 100 million items available for free two-day delivery to Prime members. Amazon spokeswoman Julie Law said Amazon is seeking the same kind of growth for next-day delivery.

The push to quicken deliveries is creating a need for more warehouses. On Sunday, Blackstone announced plans to buy a network of U.S. industrial warehouses from Singapore-based GLP for $18.7 billion, in the largest private real-estate transaction ever and a big bet on the continued explosion of e-commerce. GLP's biggest tenant is Amazon.

Amazon has long offered one-day shipping on limited items and free same-day delivery on some orders over $35. It also fulfills same-day orders through its Prime Now operation.

The new next-day option doesn't require a minimum purchase for Prime members. Amazon said it has widely expanded the offering since late April when it announced it would invest $800 million into making the next-day option the standard for Prime customers.

The day after that announcement, Walmart answered with a pointed tweet: "One-day free shipping...without a membership fee. Now THAT would be groundbreaking. Stay tuned." Amazon's Prime membership costs $119 a year.

In mid-May, Walmart said it began offering free next-day delivery in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Southern California, but only for orders costing $35 or more. It said it would expand the option to 40 of the top 50 U.S. metro areas later this year.

Walmart started offering free two-day shipping for orders of at least $35 two years ago, after the retailer scrapped a $49-a-year rival to Prime dubbed ShippingPass. The company's digital sales, while still a fraction of its overall total revenue, are growing fast. In the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, its U.S. e-commerce sales grew 40% to $15.7 billion.

Walmart's big-box competitor, Target Corp., offers free one-day shipping on some orders of at least $35 to its no-fee loyalty REDcard holders. It has also worked to expand same-day delivery through its unit Shipt.

"We don't put a lot of time and energy or focus into competitors because it can be distracting to being innovative for customers," Amazon's Ms. Law said. "We believe what we are offering to Prime members today is unmatched."

While Amazon has big goals for delivery, some shoppers have complained that the company doesn't always fulfill orders in the timeline it gives online.

Amazon has customer service lines dedicated to ensuring delivery is made when promised, Ms. Law said. "Our delivery promise date is not something we take lightly," she said.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 03, 2019 09:36 ET (13:36 GMT)

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