Home shopping retailer Argos is making its Fast Track same day delivery service free on orders of over £50 between today and the 24th November. The offer is in place to ‘help customers get ahead of the Black Friday rush’.

The nationwide Fast Track scheme allows customers to have their goods delivered within a few hours, normally for a fee of £3.95. This offer allows customers to receive them free on orders of over £25, or have £1 off if collected the same day from their local store.

Argos is the only company offering a nationwide same day service, and launched this scheme last month. Its only rival is Amazon, but their same day delivery offer is restricted to inner London and costs £4.99. The company uses its network of 800 stores on the UK’s mainland and major islands to reach customers in most of the UK. Its chief threat Amazon has yet to have the same infrastructure in such depth around the country so will not be able to compete for quite some time without a much greater investment.

MD of Argos, Stephen Vowles said of the promotion, “We’ve been delighted with the fantastic reception customers have given our great new Fast Track services so we wanted to encourage them to take advantage again of the convenience only Argos can offer, especially at this busy time of year.”

Other online retailers are watching Argos Fast Track with interest, and if this is as much of a success as Argos says, may go head to head with the home shopping company in the next year. Either way the surprise move to offer same day delivery as of October on the part of Argos could change the shape of online shopping in times to come, with more retailers following suit to compete.