Walmart, Amazon battle fiercely amid last-minute holiday shopping frenzy

It's a race to the finish. Despite concerns that a K-shaped economy could derail holiday spending, Americans are on pace to set yet another record for spending through Christmas, providing a windfall for retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Amazon.

91% of Americans celebrate the holidays and are budgeting an average of $890 in holiday spending, according to the National Retail Federation.

If you're like me, a lot of that shopping has been happening since mid-December. As presents get wrapped and lists get double-checked, I always find myself online or heading to the store hunting for last-minute hard-to-get items. Often, the item isn't available, or if it is, the prices vary from location to location, making it tough to get the best deal. Even worse is finding the perfect item only to discover it won't arrive in time.

Holiday shopping at-a-glance (2025):

• Holiday sales are expected to surpass $1 trillion.
• Retail sales are expected to increase by 3.7% to 4.2% year over year in November and December 2025.
• As of early December, shoppers had completed 51% of their holiday shopping.
  Source: NRF.

To help, Bank of America conducts an annual survey in December that ranks major online retailers. Its survey reveals its not just prices that separate major retail rivals. While Walmart has the edge on prices, Amazon came out on top when it comes to selection, delivery and shipping times. Meanwhile, Target trailed behind Walmart and Amazon, offering slightly higher prices and slower shipping times.

The findings suggest that last-minute shoppers may still have an opportunity to shop on Amazon, because of one-day shipping on many items. However, in-person shopping is your best bet at Target and likely at Walmart.

Bank of America survey shows Walmart price edge

Walmart is known for its low-price approach, and despite tariffs causing it to raise prices on select items, the big box retailer has rolled back prices on many items this year to win customer wallet share.

The big-box retail chain's "hold the line" mentality on prices was on clear display in Bank of America's 17th Annual Holiday Pricing Survey, which was shared with me via email.

Bank of America compiled a list of recommended gifts and products from top sites such as Verge, CNET, Sahara, The Toy Insider, Vogue, L'Officiel, in mid-December across five categories:

• Electronics
• Toys
• Beauty & Fashion
• Gaming Hardware
• Other

It compared prices and shipping times for those items at top online retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, and eBay.

Of the 28 items available at Walmart, Amazon, and Target, Walmart had the lowest total price for the basket, clocking in at $5,325. The same items cost $5,401 at Amazon and $5,414 at Target.

Furthermore, Walmart also had the lowest total price for the 37 items also available at Amazon (not Target). For those items, Walmart was 0.5% cheaper than Amazon, with a total basket size of $7,075 versus $7,111.

Across Walmart, Amazon, and Target, Walmart boasted below-average prices on 43% of the items. Amazon was next at 40%, while Target only had lower-than-average prices on 29% of them.

It wasn't always a win for Walmart on price, though.

Across a basket of electronics items available at all three retailers, Amazon came out cheapest at $2,210, undercutting Walmart and Target, which boasted total retail cart prices for those items of $2,241 and $2,230, respectively.

Holiday prices for top electronics gifts (2025):

Target and Amazon were also cheaper than Walmart for toys, with a basket of available items at Target and Amazon costing $207, compared to $214 at Walmart.

Holiday prices for top toy gifts (2025):

Amazon wins selection and shipping battle

While Walmart had the lowest prices, it couldn't match Amazon's selection and delivery options.

Of the items Bank of America searched for online, Amazon was selling 94% of them, while Walmart.com had 74% and Target's website had 60%.

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In addition to being able to find more of these top holiday items on Amazon, it also outpaced Walmart and Target in terms of shipping and delivery.

Bank of America used a San Francisco address, and Amazon offered free one-day delivery on 27 of the 50 items. On average, Amazon's shipping time was 2.7 days, with an average delivery time of 1 day for electronics. Bank of America also noted that some items at Amazon were available via its latest same-day service.

Overall, Walmart averaged 5.2 days for shipping, only slightly better than Target's 5.4 days. Walmart's electronics delivery timeline was 2 days, while Target's was 3 days. Walmart had only 14% of its items listed as available for one-day shipping, significantly less than Amazon.

The data suggest that when speed matters, Amazon has been the best option for receiving gifts quickly in the final days of the shopping season, especially for electronics and toys, as it also offers lower total prices for these products than Walmart and Target, according to Bank of America's survey.

Related: Best Buy, Macy's, and Kohl's add fees to holiday returns