MGR eCommerce Edge Weekly | July 15, 2020

Walmart has finally launched its own Amazon Prime competitor, called Walmart+.

The program will cost $98/year (vs $119/year for Prime) and include:
• Free same or next day delivery on all orders
• Express 2 hour delivery options
• Early access to exclusive deals
• Savings on fuel at all Walmart gas stations

This is not a surprise to anyone who has been monitoring the eCommerce landscape but it is an important development nonetheless. Walmart so far this year has seen explosive eCommerce growth, report that Q1 sales were up 74% YoY.

The real question will be, will consumers subscribe to both, or choose one or the other? This is hard to answer but if I had to guess, I would say that there will not be much overlap between subscribers of the services. I don’t think very many people who already have a Prime subscription will run out to sign up for this.

However, Walmart has advantages when it comes to delivery speed, grocery options, ease of returns, and other factors that make them a real competitor, in addition to the lower price of the subscription itself. These things all matter a lot to the Walmart shopper who is typically very price conscious.

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