Internet powerhouse Amazon is about to go to retail war with Walmart in the “Great Battle of the Low-Income Dollar.” Amazon is striving to make its services more widely available to those in low-income tax brackets.

Amazon is dropping the price of their 2-day Prime delivery membership from $10.99 to $5.99 for recipients of government assistance. Plans are in motion to begin accepting food stamps, also known as EBT or SNAP in many states. All this in a bid to gain the demographic that shops at Walmart heavily.

In order to gain access to these exclusive benefits, a valid Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card number must be entered into the system. Now you can’t use the food stamps to pay for you Prime membership, only your groceries. But no worries there because earlier this year Amazon introduced Amazon Cash, a payment method targeted to customers without bank accounts. The Amazon Cash program allows people to make deposits into the cash account at various retails like CVS and Sheetz gas stations.
This is quite obviously another marketing ploy to target lower income consumers.

In conclusion, the introduction of these new services will help cut down on the commuting costs for those who do not have reliable transportation to and from the store. Walmart will most likely not even bat a fiscal eyelash over Amazon’s plans.