Walmart is at it again, trying to compete with a 1,000 pound gorilla known as Amazon Prime. This time it’s with a service called Walmart+ which went live back in 2020. In this article, I breakdown exactly what Walmart+ is and if it’s a viable replacement to Amazon Prime.

The TLDR version is Walmart+ originally was a sad effort to try and compete with Prime, but has gotten much better in recent years and is worth a strong look.

What Exactly is Walmart+

Walmart+ is a membership program that launched on September 15th, 2020 that offers time & money saving benefits to shoppers.

Let’s break it all down…

What Are the Main Features of Walmart+?

As the program stands right now, there are 5 main features worth discussing.

1. Unlimited Free Grocery Delivery

This is FAR and AWAY the best feature.

With Walmart+ you’ll be able to shop the Walmart website and do all your grocery shopping and get unlimited free delivery on $35 or more.

To make the delivery happen, you select your time slot and Walmart does the rest. FYI: Time slots begin at 4 hours from the time of your order.

But it doesn’t stop at just groceries as you’ll also be able to shop for tech items, household supplies, toys, and more. Over 180,000 items to be exact.

2. Free Shipping on Walmart.com

Shop the Walmart website and get free delivery with NO minimum order required.

This free shipping perk is not a 2-day shipping guarantee that Amazon tries, but often fails, to deliver on.

Instead, you can expect to get your Walmart order delivered in 3-5 business days. 

See Also: 9 Insider Tips That’ll Help You Save at Walmart

3. Fuel Discounts

You can save up to 10 cents per gallon at “Walmart, Sam’s Club, Murphy USA and Murphy Express fuel stations”.

10 cents a gallon? WOW…I’ll finally be able to retire early. C’mon Walmart, you can do better than this.

4. Scan and Go via the Walmart App

This could be helpful, especially since many shoppers would rather not have to go through the checkout aisle.

Scan & Go lets you use the Walmart app to scan your items as you shop in-store.

You would then pay with Walmart Pay and show evidence of your purchase to the person at the door as you exit.

5. Paramount+ Free Subscription

You’ll also get a free Paramount+ Essential subscription that would you cost you $5.99/month.

While the content on Paramount+ has been improving, it’s not nearly as vast as Amazon Prime Video.

See Also: Want Free Groceries Delivery? These 7 Delivery Promotions are a MUST

What Does Walmart+ Cost?

There are currently 2 payment options.

You can pay a monthly fee of $12.95 or an annual $98 fee.

If you opt for the annual route you’ll save just over $57.

I’d suggest taking advantage of the 30-day free trial to see if it’s right for you before committing to the annual fee.

What Happened to Walmart “Delivery Unlimited”?

The Walmart “Delivery Unlimited” program went away back in 2020 and got swallowed up by Walmart+.

Those that were enrolled in the program automatically g0t moved over to Walmart+.

Not a big deal as “Delivery Unlimited” is essentially the same program (and cost) as Walmart+, add the gas savings and Scan & Go feature.

Should Amazon Be Concerned?

Back in 2020, I said, “No, absolutely NOT”. But now here we are is 2024 and I’d say Walmart+ is definitely more of a threat to take shoppers away from Prime than before.

First of all, the free unlimited shipping that Walmart+ is offering is fairly competitive to Prime, minus the 2-day shipping guarantee.

Also, Walmart’s free grocery delivery on $35 or more is very enticing to shoppers, especially those that got used to grocery delivery after the COVID lockdown.

With that said, some of the other perks that come with Prime far outweigh what Walmart is offering.

A few that jump to mind include Prime Music, Prime Video, Audible, and Unlimited Photo Storage.

Many of these perks can actually be replacements for services like Netflix, Hulu, Spotify and Pandora easily saving you $30-$40 a month.

Will Walmart start offering more perks like these? Probably. But as it stands right now, the perks you get with Prime still outweigh what Wally World is offering.

Ask the Reader: Am I being too hard on Walmart+? Are you a big fan? Let me know.

By Kyle James

Photo courtesy of Walmart.