Walmart Plus — Everything you need to know

Walmart Plus is a membership program that competes with the likes of Amazon Prime and the recently launched Best Buy Beta. The service offers subscribers in-store and online benefits, such as unlimited free delivery and fuel discounts from participating gas stations. 

A Walmart Plus membership costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month. However, it includes a free 15-day trial. Here’s everything you need to know about Walmart Plus. 

Walmart Plus free trial

Memorial Day and Walmart Plus

Memorial Day sales are officially here. While Walmart Plus members won’t get access to any exclusive deals, they do benefit from free shipping with no minimum purchase required. For more deals over the holiday weekend, make sure to check out our Memorial Day mattress sales coverage for the best deals. 

Walmart Plus waives shipping minimum for members

Walmart Plus members no longer need to meet the retailer’s $35 minimum purchase requirement to obtain free shipping. Last year, Walmart announced members would be able to get free shipping on all purchases without worrying about hitting that $35 minimum threshold. 

In addition, Walmart is also expanding the number of locations where members can use their fuel savings. Walmart Plus customers now have access to fuel discounts at more than 500 Sam’s Club locations. All of these features are a welcome perk for shoppers, especially in light of Amazon shuttering its Prime Pantry service.

Walmart Plus membership

Walmart Plus membership costs $98 per year or $12.95 per month. (It includes a free 15-day trial period). The membership program — which is Walmart’s version of Amazon Prime — is a rebranding of Walmart’s $98-per-year Grocery Unlimited service. The grocery delivery service launched in 2019 and quickly expanded to 1,400 additional stores in September of 2019. However, Walmart Plus goes beyond groceries to also include tech, beauty, and sports products. By comparison, Amazon Prime costs $119 per year or $12.99 per month. 

Walmart Plus perks

Walmart Plus includes a handful of benefits that will grow over time. Currently, Walmart Plus benefits include the following: 

• Unlimited free delivery: Customers will receive fast, free delivery on more than 160,000 items including tech, toys, household essentials, and groceries. Delivery will occur as fast as same-day with 1-hour delivery windows. 
• Scan & Go: This feature in the Walmart app will allow for a faster way to shop in-store. Using the Walmart app, customers can scan their items as they shop and pay using Walmart Pay for a quick and touch-free payment experience.
• Fuel discounts: Walmart Plus members will be able to save up to 5 cents per gallon at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA, and Murphy Express fuel stations. Sam’s Club fuel stations will also be added to the lineup.

It’s unclear what other perks Walmart Prime will offer in the near future. However, it’s no secret that Walmart and Amazon price match each other all the time, especially on retail holidays like Prime Day. The renewed rivalry could make for excellent deals.

Walmart Plus vs. Amazon Prime

During Amazon’s Q1 2021 earnings call, the company revealed there are over 200 million paid Prime members worldwide. That’s a number that Walmart Plus is certainly hoping to reach. 

Once the country’s top retailer, Walmart has watched as its rival Amazon has dominated online sales. Amazon now accounts for roughly 38% of all online retail sales in the U.S., according to eMarketer. By comparison, Walmart is a distant second place with just over 5% of the U.S. e-commerce market. The hope is that Walmart Plus will help it take some of that market share from Amazon. 

This isn’t the first time Walmart has taken on Amazon Prime. In 2015, Walmart launched ShippingPass, an unlimited online shipping service that cost $50 per year and promised deliveries in three days or less. This was Walmart’s attempt to undercut Amazon Prime, which at the time cost $99 per year. Two years later, Walmart dropped its membership fee and switched to a 2-day free shipping program on orders of $35 or more. 

However, Walmart’s biggest chest thump came in 2016, when it purchased Jet.com for $3 billion. The hope was that Jet.com would help Walmart establish a bigger online presence. (Walmart announced last month that it was permanently closing Jet.com). 

The Walmart vs. Amazon feud continued into 2019. Just as Amazon announced its plans to offer 1-day shipping, Walmart followed suit with its own 1-day shipping pilot. Most recently, Walmart announced 2-hour Express delivery for an additional $10 over Walmart’s typical delivery fees. 

Even on big retailer days like Black Friday, Walmart has shadowed Amazon with similar sales of its own. Walmart Plus is an extension of this ongoing battle and only time will tell if it’s the true knockout punch that it needs to take on Amazon and its legion of subscribers.