Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Wal-Mart is offering free shipping with no minimum purchase on all online orders during the week of July 11, its latest move to steal some thunder from Amazon's much-publicized Prime Day shopping event, which takes place July 12.

SWal-Mart will offer the free shipping option alongside 30-day free trials of ShippingPass, a $49-per-year program giving members free two-day shipping on many items. Wal-Mart has seen daily ShippingPass sign-ups more than quadruple in a week compared to the previous week, Internet Retailer reports, although the retailer didn’t disclose how many customers have signed up.In addition to touting its shipping deals, Wal-Mart is holding a sale to rival Prime Day this year, as it did last year. 

Stores including Target, Sears and Banana Republic also are offering deals coinciding with Prime Day, notes USA Today.Wal-Mart is aggressively targeting Amazon Prime Day, offering discounts on merchandise from televisions and clothes to furniture this week, Reuters reports.

And while Prime Day deals are available exclusively to Prime subscribers, Wal-Mart is imposing no such restrictions. “We believe saving money every day is better than just one, and that all customers should save, not only some,” Wal-Mart said in a statement....

Looking for the best deals on that hot “it” purse or that tony musk fragrance? Then you might want to skip Amazon.

Department and specialty stores are cheaper than the online giant on a range of full-priced items, the International Council of Shopping Centers claims, based on a study it conducted  last year.

A comparison between the same 547 (nonsale) apparel, accessory and beauty products at 124 department and specialty stores across the country, such as Bloomingdale’s, Macy's and Sephora, revealed that on an item-to-item basis, department and specialty stores were up to 30% cheaper than the online juggernaut....