Amazon drops free-shipping minimum for all customers

Competition for online holiday shoppers is heating up, and Monday Amazon announced that it is offering free shipping with no minimum purchase for orders that will arrive in time for Christmas.

As previously reported by FOX Business, Amazon competitor Walmart announced Tuesday it will expand its free two-day shipping options in November. Millions of additional items on its website sold by third-party sellers will qualify for the free two-day shipping perk.

Target also announced it would offer, for the first time, two-day shipping, with no minimum purchase this holiday. The offer starts Nov. 1 and ends Dec. 22.

According to the National Retail Federation, holiday retail sales in November and December will increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent over 2017 for a total of $717.45 billion to $720.89 billion. Over the past five years, the average annual increase was 3.9 percent.