Amazon is upping the ante in its native US this festive season by offering customers the opportunity to get orders shipped out free of charge, no matter the value or volume of the items they are buying online.

For the rest of the year people have to spend at least $25, or £20 in the UK, to get free delivery under the firm’s standard shipping service. Subscribers to Prime can get unlimited free next day delivery and it is thought that this new promotion is being rolled out to convince more people to sign up to this premium service.

Whether this promotion will be expanded to other markets, like the UK, remains to be seen. But it seems likely that if Amazon wants to take an even bigger slice of Christmas spending, it will make similar bonuses available to customers outside of America.

Delivery costs are one of the biggest concerns regularly cited by consumers when they carry out safe shopping online. Most people want to see free delivery as an option when they get to the checkout, but obstacles like minimum order values can often put a dampener on this.

Prime has been a hugely impactful platform for Amazon to ensure customer loyalty and free next day delivery is a big part of its appeal. It will be interesting to see whether the elimination of the minimum spend for standard free delivery will make a difference this Christmas, or whether it will simply reassert the idea that anyone who is willing to wait five to eight working days to receive the items they have ordered will be better off than impatient subscription payers.

Amazon’s shipping bill already spirals into the tens of billions each year, so it is clearly willing to experiment and invest to get the right balance.