Amazon is offering free delivery in the US because it’s nearly Christmas

“Did you know Christmas is nearly here?”

Now that it’s November, people will start telling you how many shopping days or weekends there are until Christmas. You can avoid them all you like, but a pretty major sign that the festive season is nearly upon us has dropped today after Amazon ditched its shipping charges for Christmas orders in the U.S.

The company has removed its shipping charges and made deliveries free for “hundreds of millions” of products on sale with the e-commerce giant. Usually, it takes a minimum spend of $25 to get free delivery but Amazon said it will offer the exemption “for a limited time.”

The move looks like to be a response to Target, which last month announced free two-day shipping with no minimum spend.

There’s plenty at stake. Not only are the duo and rival Walmart competing for Christmas sales, but shopping festivals Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming later this month.

Target is honing in on dissatisfaction with Amazon’s two-day delivery system for Prime Members, which sometimes slips to three days or more, with its promotion. Amazon appeared to hit back with its announcement today, which is laced with marketing department-issued copy such as: “tens of millions of Prime members can shop with FREE Same-Day Delivery, now available on more than three million items – the largest same-day selection in the U.S. including the best gifts like toys and electronics, as well as home, fashion and everything you need to enjoy the holidays.”

(Amazon is also selling real-life Christmas trees this year, that is pretty neat.)

The U.S. E-commerce War: Christmas 2018 Edition is now officially open for battle.