Walmart.com is offering online customers free shipping through Dec. 20, an aggressive move that could trigger a brutal fight with rival retailers for crucial holiday sales. The retail giant's website is offering the deal on 60,000 gift items, including toys and electronics (except Apple's iPods and iPads) with no minimum purchase required. What does this mean for Walmart and its competitors? (Watch a local report about Walmart's announcement)
Walmart has to do this to compete: Walmart.com isn't striking the first blow in this online war, says David Gura at Marketplace. Online retailers like Amazon.com, Borders, and L.L. Bean have been chipping away at Walmart's brick-and-mortar sales by luring customers into buying more of their gifts over the internet, periodically using free shipping as bait. Walmart.com is just "playing catch-up."
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