Target Lowers Free Shipping Threshold to $25

Target is still recovering from the brutal effects of how they’ve been treated in the marketplace after their Christmas 2013 security breach. In trying to put the pieces back together, they’re spending a fortune to beef up Target.com.

Targets up the ante in the shipping wars

In the ongoing war between Target vs. Amazon vs. Walmart, Target raised the ante by lowering the minimum for free shipping to $25.

(Amazon is $35 for free shipping [for non-Prime customers] and Walmart has a free shipping threshold of $50.)

As you probably know, Amazon also has its Prime membership that offers 2-day free shipping with no minimum for those who pay $99 annually.

In addition to the free 2-day shipping on most online purchases, Amazon Prime also offers a free streaming service that’s like a Netflix wannabe, and limited free Kindle e-book downloads. (With its sparse streaming library, Prime is *not* a viable substitute for Netflix or Hulu Plus yet.)

So at $99 each year, you really have to assess the value of what’s being offered by Amazon and decide if you want to pay for “free shipping.” Consider this: Amazon was once the cheapest place to shop, but that’s no longer the case in many product categories. More often than not, Target.com will generally be cheaper than Amazon.com.

However, for electronics shoppers, I suggest you look at B & H Photo Video that has a good customer service reputation and tends to undercut other competitors on price. For very specialty electronics, NewEgg.com will typically undercut others too.

The point I want to make is that nobody owns the space on the lowest price. If you become a creature of habit and just click to purchase at any one site, the odds are you will overpay. You’ve got to shop around!