Amazon Opens a New Window. said Monday that free one-day delivery has been added to more than 10 million items — an announcement that seems to take a shot at its rival Walmart Opens a New Window. , which launched its own next-day delivery initiate in May.
Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce company said the products, ranging from Echo devices to household items, will qualify for free next-day delivery in the U.S. to those with a Prime membership.
“Today, the most popular one-day items range from books, beauty and baby wipes to devices, dish detergent and doggie bags,” Amazon wrote in a blog post on Monday. Opens a New Window. “In other words, Prime Free One Day is already 10 times larger than the original two-day offering launched in 2005.”
“But we will keep adding more selection and expanding our delivery areas to ensure Prime members get their products faster than ever. Prime members will find that more and more items are being delivered in just one day,” the company added.
Amazon Opens a New Window. said it began offering next-day delivery on a trove of products in April and will continue adding millions of items, but the exact date of the complete rollout was not revealed. Prime members who pay $119 a year aren’t required to meet a minimum purchase amount for the new next-day delivery option. Amazon previously offered one-day shipping on select items and free same-day delivery for those whose orders were $35 or more.
Currently, more than 100 million items qualify for two-day delivery through Prime.
Amazon’s announcement comes just weeks after Walmart announced it was offering next-day delivery to online shoppers. The option, however, is only available to 220,000 products in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Southern California, but shoppers don’t need a membership to take advantage of the perk.
The only caveat: customers will need to purchase items of $35 or more to be eligible. Walmart said it was planning to expand next-day delivery to most of the U.S. by the end of the year.
On the same day of Walmart’s announcement, Amazon fired back with a tweet Opens a New Window. reminding its members that next-day delivery is available in “thousands of cities.”
“Others are trying to up their fast shipping game. Fact is, Amazon customers in thousands of cities across 44 major metropolitan areas already have access to millions of items with free SAME DAY delivery,” Amazon tweeted in May. “Customers are smart – they know the difference.”
