Walmart Offers Walmart Plus at 50% Discount

(Reuters) – Walmart (NYSE:WMT) announced on Monday that it will provide a 50% discount on its membership service, Walmart Plus, ahead of the holiday season. This initiative is aimed at narrowing the gap with rival Amazon.com's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime subscription service.

This year, U.S. retailers, including Walmart, have begun their sales events earlier and incorporated more deals and perks to draw in shoppers facing high inflation. The National Retail Federation predicts that U.S. holiday retail sales will grow by up to 3.5%, marking the slowest growth in six years due to more cautious spending habits.

As part of these early deals, Walmart is offering a one-year Walmart Plus membership for $49, significantly reduced from the regular price of $98. This offer is valid from Monday through December 2.

This strategy underlines Walmart's efforts to compete with Amazon Prime, which has an annual fee of $139 and boasts over six times more subscribers. According to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, Amazon Prime has 180 million subscribers in the U.S., while eMarketer projects that Walmart Plus will have 32 million subscribers by the end of the year.

Walmart Plus members enjoy benefits such as express, same-day, and next-day deliveries, a free Paramount+ subscription, and savings of ten cents per gallon of gas. In comparison, Amazon Prime members have access to an annual Grubhub+ delivery subscription, early and exclusive deals on Prime Day, and free services like Amazon Music and Amazon Prime Video.