Earlier this week, Target announced that it’d offer its customers free 2-day shipping on plenty of products, starting November 1st, without requiring a membership fee or minimum order. Walmart, which launched its own no-membership free 2-day shipping years ago, revealed that its own program would be expanded to include more products just in time for Black Friday.
In a blog post, the company said that it’s making “two significant changes” to its marketplace shopping experience, concerning free two-day shipping and product returns.
Walmart said that it’s working with marketplace sellers to make millions of items available for free two-day shipping. However, the minimum order is still set at $35, but that’s probably not going to be a problem during the busy Black Friday shopping season. Both Target and Walmart are going after Amazon with their expanded 2-day shipping offers. These no-membership free 2-day shipping announcements are a clear hit at Amazon’s paid Prime membership, which offers, among other things, free 2-day shipping.
The other change Walmart just announced concerns returns, as the company wants to make the process even more comfortable for buyers and sellers.
Customers will be able to log into their Walmart accounts, create a return label, and ship the product back to the seller. Walmart will also let customers bring the products they want to return to Walmart locations. Walmart will handle the shipment to the seller, and the seller will refund the buyer.
The new in-store returns will be available to Walmart customers in mid-November, while the expanded 2-day shipping program also kicks off next month, in time for the holiday shopping season.
