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Amazon.com ( AMZN ) shipping got more expensive Monday, as the company announced it was raising its free shipping minimum 40% to $49. The move, of course, only pertains to non-subscribers of its Amazon Prime loyalty program, since those subscribers get free shipping on any order. Amazon’s latest move is likely intended to drive more Prime subscription growth and also cut down on shipping costs. Amazon stock rose 4.6% to 559.50 on the stock market today , moving back above its 200-day moving average for the first time since plunging below that mark on Feb. 3. Rival Wal-Mart ( WMT ) has a $50 threshold for free shipping. E-tail startup Jet.com uses $35 as its minimum, while Target ( TGT ) has a $25 minimum. Wal-Mart stock rose 1.5% on Monday while Target edged up 0.2%. Amazon’s shipping costs have been ballooning as the company offers increasing rapid delivery times — including one-hour delivery in certain markets via Amazon Prime Now. Those costs rose 37% year-over-year in Q4, to $4.7 billion. Rumors continue to swirl about the firm’s long-term plans for its shipping program, as investors and analysts speculate that Amazon is interested in competing with established delivery companies such as UPS ( UPS ) and FedEx ( FDX ). Internal documents seen by Bloomberg seemingly support that theory. And, there have been reports of Amazon getting into the ocean freight business — which one observers said could generate upward of $100 million in free cash flow — as well as leasing cargo jets and making a large purchase of trucks to haul packages between its fulfillment centers. The documents seen by Bloomberg suggest Amazon is gearing up to compete more with China e-com leader Alibaba ( BABA ). Besides delivery costs, Amazon has spent billions of dollars on its fulfillment and sortation centers, the last step in the delivery process. Wells Fargo analyst Matt Nemer says Amazon.com captured 51% of all retail growth in Q4 2015 . Amazon’s Prime loyalty program offers free two-day shipping, as well as free streaming audio and video, among other perks. Analysts in general peg Amazon’s Prime customer count near 40 million, with some estimates coming in as high as 50 million. Prime members, on average, spend about twice as much on Amazon.com than regular shoppers. Prime members accounted for 57% of Amazon’s North American sales in Q4, and Prime members spend about 12% more every year, according to ITG Investment Research analyst Steve Weinstein. Nemer has told IBD that Prime is the biggest reason for Amazon’s growth, which during the past two quarters has exceeded 20%. Scalper1 News
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