Amazon is dropping the minimum purchase price for free shipping

Holiday shopping season is upon us with retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Kohl's showcasing both early deals and Black Friday teasers. With big box retailers primed to clear the shelves during the holiday madness, Amazon is stepping up their game with revised shipping pricing to get a piece of the action.

Black Friday has always been about brick and mortar stores, but lately, retail giants have pushed excessive online deals and generous shipping rates to attack on both fronts; this does not even include Cyber Monday sales. This has allowed the opening that Amazon needed to be a big player on Black Friday. However, as Black Friday has always been about physical presence, e-commerce needed to incentive customers to get online rather than going to the store, and higher shipping rates has always meant the difference between in-store and online pricing.

While Walmart retains a $35 minimum order to qualify for free shipping, Target has removed the minimum purchase requirement in hopes of pulling customers over that can get the same item pricing, but save on shipping; no one would willingly choose to spend more for the same item. Now, it appears Amazon has jumped on the same with a no-minimum purchase to qualify for free shipping.

We will have to wait and see what kind of pressure this puts on a store like Target that not only typically has higher pricing than Amazon, but does not have the same width of catalog. Many people prefer Amazon as it can be a one-stop-shop for most giving them a higher loyalty and higher usability than a Target-like store. Regardless, it looks like the real winners of this holiday shopping season will be the same as every other year: consumers.