Walmart Challenges Amazon With $50-Per-Year Unlimited Shipping

Walmart is planning to test a new unlimited online shipping service this summer for $50 per year, a move to compete with Amazon’s annual $99 Prime shipping service.

Walmart’s service, which will be by invitation only for now, will offer selected products on the company’s website to customers in three days or less, company spokesman Ravi Jariwala told Reuters. Walmart offers more than seven million products on its website.

“Depending on customer feedback we will see how the program evolves,” Jariwala said.

The move underscores Walmart’s efforts to scale its online business rapidly and gain a share of a market dominated by Amazon.

Amazon’s launched its $99-a-year shipping service called Prime a decade ago with the guarantee of standard, reliable two-day shipping on online orders.

Since then Prime has become the cornerstone of Amazon’s growth. The e-commerce company said U.S. Prime memberships grew 50 percent last year.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago; Editing by Alan Crosby)

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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