Posted by & filed under Accounting Information Systems, Accounting Principles, Advanced Accounting, All Articles, Auditing, Cost Accounting, Ethical Dilemma, Financial Accounting, Intermediate Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Video Updates.

As Walmart, Target and Amazon launch a price war for merchandise in the weeks before Thanksgiving, they are now wooing customers with the promise of fast, efficient, no-cost shipping. On Monday, Amazon upped the ante by expanding free shipping to all customers through the holidays, with no minimum purchase required.

Questions:
1. What do Prime customers get with this new campaign?
2. What is Target and Walmart offering its customers?
3. What is the steep price tag to the free shipping?
4. Do you see this as a race to the bottom and what are the problems with this for the retailers?
5. How should these companies account for the free shipping in their financial records?

Source:
Siegel, R. (2018). Amazon just upped the ante in the race for free holiday shipping. Washington Post, Nov. 5 (Retrievable online at https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/11/05/amazon-just-upped-ante-race-free-holiday-shipping/?utm_term=.234b1fb10dfb)