If you’re a procrastinating holiday shopper (and most of us are), you’ll be happy to know that Amazon has extended its deadline for free shipping to arrive before Christmas.

You’ll need to place your order by December 19 to get your stuff by Dec 24. This gives customers an extra day as compared to last year.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can push it all the way to Dec 22 and still have your order by Dec 24.

And for folks living in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC, same-day shipping will allow you to place your order at 10am local time on Dec 24 and still have it delivered by that evening.

Amazon is simply trying to match one of its biggest competitors this year. Walmart recently announced that it would guarantee Christmas Eve delivery for orders placed by Dec 19.

This is simply a case of companies doing battle at the benefit of the customer. But beware, as Dec 19 will sneak up on you before you know it (it’s this Friday).

Image via Stephen Woods, Flickr Creative Commons