Wal-Mart takes fight to Amazon

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — It’s no secret that a big part of Wal-Mart’s strategy is to maintain its market share in the face of competition from Amazon.com, and maybe even steal some away.

But Wal-Mart is now taking the fight for customers directly to Amazon in a big way with a new pricing and shipping promotion that directly challenges the upcoming July 15 Amazon “Prime Day” event.

In a public blog post dated July 13 and titled ‘Why Every Day is Low Price Day at Walmart,” Wal-Mart president and CEO Fernando Medeira announced that Wal-Mart is reducing the minimum online purchase for free shipping from $50 to $35. In addition, starting this week, Wal-Mart will offer discounts on thousands of products. Wal-Mart is also promising “atomic deals,” with more information to come this week.

Medeira did not directly mention Amazon by name in his post, but left little doubt about the target of Wal-Mart’s new promotion.

“We’ve heard some retailers are charging $100 to get access to a sale,” Medeira said in the post. “But the idea of asking customers to pay extra in order to save money just doesn’t add up for us. “Low prices, no hidden fees or premiums, plus savings for everyone – now that’s something we can all celebrate.”

Meanwhile, in an effort to promote its Amazon Prime paid loyalty program, Amazon is encouraging customers to celebrate “Prime Day,” a one-day global shopping event on July 15 that it says will have more deals than Black Friday.

Amazon is offering free 30-day trials of the normally $99 per year service, which offers unlimited expedited shipping for members, as well as free same-day delivery in 14 U.S. metropolitan areas.