Free shipping for all

Amazon says it will offer customers free shipping on orders delivered through Christmas, regardless of whether they are members of the Prime membership program. Rival Target recently announced its holiday offer of free two-day shipping, saying it will ship hundreds of thousands of items free, with no minimum order size, from Nov. 1 to Dec. 22. Walmart offers free two-day shipping on sales of more than $35, while members of Amazon’s $119-ayear Prime program enjoy the benefit year-round. But the e-commerce giant will cover the shipping costs on hundreds of millions of items during the holiday rush. And it will provide free standard shipping for any order.