NEW YORK — Target, Walmart and Amazon are engaged in a game of shipping tag, each trying to adjust their free threshold and other shipping strategies to a level that can lure shoppers away from one of the other.

Minneapolis-based Target has the furthest to go as it tries to put itself in better competition with Amazon, the undisputed online leader, and Walmart, which has been buying online startups to beef up its own operations.

Target has announced plans to put more money into both its online operations and its stores, and saw it online sales rise 22 percent for the first quarter. That was a slowdown from 34 percent in the fourth quarter, though.

With shoppers overall less and less willing to wait for their items to arrive, figuring out a shipping strategy that will encourage people to buy more and also drive shoppers to its stores will be a key element for Target.

Amazon “has a model of getting shoppers to order and having it show up in two days and is working to make it less than two days,” said Tim Laseter, a partner at PwC. “There is no doubt that the general expectation is faster and cheaper.”

But he noted that Target and Walmart can take advantage of their stores in this game as they increasingly cater to customers.

“We believe that the future of retail is both digital and physical, and successful retailers will need to provide an outstanding experience in both,” Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan told investors on Wednesday.

Target had quietly raised its free shipping threshold to $35 from $25 this month, going in the opposite direction of Walmart and Amazon. Asked about that move Wednesday, Chief Financial Officer Kathy R. Smith said that very few online orders are below $35.

But she said, “We will always evaluate.”

Walmart had lowered its bar to $35 from $50 earlier this year and scrapped its program called SavingsPass that offered free shipping but had an annual fee. It also cut its shipping time to two days on 2 million of its most popular items, including essentials like diapers and pet food as well as some toys and electronics.

Walmart’s average shipping time has been three to five days.

Amazon.com, which had reduced the free shipping threshold for its non-Prime members to $35 from $49 following Walmart’s move, has lowered it again to $25.

Walmart will be reporting its first-quarter results today.