Walmart+ to create competition for Amazon
Brad Baker
Walmart has always offered online shopping and recently they have announced a new program called Walmart Plus in order to compete directly with Amazon. Walmart Plus will be launched later this month on 15 September 2020. The annual membership fee will be $98 unlike Amazon’s annual membership fee of $119.
Amazon offers all sorts of perks for the $119 Prime membership to include free 2-day shipping (when available), Prime Video, Amazon Music, and free Kindle books to name a few. Walmart Plus only offers free quick shipping on anything from Walmart including groceries. They claim that shipping will either be the same day or the next morning in most areas. Walmart Plus doesn’t offer perks such as video streaming or music streaming but they do offer a Scan-and-Go option that allows you to scan items instore and pay with the app rather than going through the normal checkout. Another difference with Amazon Prime, you can get free 2-day shipping on just about any order regardless of price. Walmart Plus requires a minimum purchase of $35 to be eligible for the free quick ship.
The real savings will have to come with the products themselves as to whether or not you can get cheaper products on Walmart Plus or Amazon. Hopefully, Walmart will later add additional perks to their membership or maybe the new competition will drive Amazon’s Prime membership fees down. Either way, I am glad to see someone taking on Amazon. Walmart was a big player for years and now its Amazon. Competition is always good for consumers in the end.
There are others besides Walmart that have already been offering competitive quick shipping options such as Target and even Aldi’s. I think the main issue is that most of us have already created an Amazon Prime account and have become used to using it for everything. It is hard to get consumers to switch services or even add on more services. Yeah you may find cheaper products at Target.com or
Walmart.com but if you are not yet ready to part ways with Amazon, then you have to ask yourself if you are willing to dish out another $98 or so a year on top of your Prime membership to save a few extra bucks. I suggest you continue to pay attention to the market competition between these players and ask yourself which service will work best for you. Pick only one and get rid of the others. Remember you can still use amazon without Prime and can even get free shipping if you make a large enough purchase.