Walmart is in talks to buy Jet.com, The Wall Street Journal reports.

If completed, the acquisition could give Walmart the e-commerce muscle it needs to overtake Amazon.

Jet.com, which sells household goods and groceries, is just one year old.

But it has been growing rapidly — adding approximately 350,000 customers a month — by offering lower prices than Amazon and free shipping on all orders over $35.

By comparison, Amazon charges $99 annually for free two-day shipping as part of its Prime membership.

Walmart has been investing heavily in its online business in an attempt to catch up to Amazon.

But it has a long way to go. Walmart's online sales were $13.7 billion in fiscal 2015, while Amazon's sales in 2015 were $107 billion.

Walmart has one key advantage over Amazon: It has a massive US network of distribution centers as well as stores that can act as distribution centers.

Yet it has been slower than Amazon to offer fast and free shipping for online orders.

That's where Jet.com can help Walmart.

"While Walmart does have an e-commerce offer, it is somewhat jumbled and unfocused which makes it hard for the company to compete with the likes of Amazon in specific areas like household essentials," Neil Saunders, the CEO of the retail consulting firm Conlumino, wrote in a note to clients.

"To an extent Jet remedies this and would give Walmart a much more focused and powerful offering and platform with which to compete against Amazon."

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To play catch-up to Amazon, Walmart recently shortened the shipping window for members of ShippingPass, the company's free-shipping program meant to rival Amazon Prime.

ShippingPass costs $49 a year, compared with the $99 for Amazon Prime.

Like Amazon Prime, ShippingPass gives subscribers access to more than 1 million products online that they can have delivered to their doors within a couple of days.

There's no minimum-order requirement to qualify for the free two-day shipping. The membership comes with free returns online and in stores.

Without ShippingPass, Walmart customers have the option to choose between "rush" one-day shipping, which can cost at least $14 an item, or "expedited," "standard," and "value" options, which take two to seven days and cost about $5 to $8. Walmart offers free pickup at stores.

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