Walmart's Amazon Prime Competitor Will Launch This Month (vox.com) 47
Amazon may have a 15-year head start, but Walmart is close to finally unveiling its own membership program that it hopes will eventually become an alternative to Amazon Prime. From a report: Walmart plans to launch a new subscription service later this month called Walmart+ that will cost $98 a year. It will include perks like same-day delivery of groceries and general merchandise, discounts on fuel at Walmart gas stations, and early access to product deals, multiple sources told Recode. Walmart originally planned to unveil Walmart+ in late March or April, Recode reported in February, but the retailer pushed back the launch date after the Covid-19 pandemic began sweeping across the US in March. It's unclear whether the program will launch nationally, or first on a regional level, later this month.
Won't be long... (Score:1)
I don't think that affects Walmart so much. (Score:1)
If they are only selling Walmart goods, not third party presumably the counterfeit stuff would be far less frequent than it is on Amazon which has so many third party products for sale...
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This would also make it much less attractive... the whole "you can find almost anything on Amazon" factor is a huge part of what has made it successful. If you keep it to only Walmart normal stock, you lose the whole "I found this random widget from China for my electronics project" aspect. And why do I want to pay $98/yr for delivery, when I can drive 5 minutes down the street to Walmart and pick it up myself?
It might be successful, but right now it sounds very overpriced for what they're offering in com
Not sure it's that much less attractive. (Score:2)
This would also make it much less attractive... the whole "you can find almost anything on Amazon" factor is a huge part of what has made it successful.
It was - at the start. But there are many things I will not order from Amazon anymore, if I can help it.
Cables, most things computer related - very hard to be sure you will get something real.
Ironically, even books I am reluctant to order from Amazon anymore, because the last few times they sipped expensive hard back books to me, they were loose in box and
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And why do I want to pay $98/yr for delivery, when I can drive 5 minutes down the street to Walmart and pick it up myself?
Because then you'd have to go in the Walmart. Forget everything else, I'd pay $98 a year just to not have to do that.
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I have serious doubts the the typical Walmart shopper could even afford to spend an extra $98/year.
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To be fair, I sometimes forget how awful the typical Walmart really is. I live near one of the nicer Walmarts I've ever seen or been in, so I don't mind going there at all. There are many other Walmart stores I actively try to avoid, however.
I find that Walmart really can't be beat for things like ammo, motor oil (and other automotive fluids), and car batteries, although their ammo selection has become rather lackluster since they decided to stop selling pretty much everything except hunting rounds and sh
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...until it's polluted with counterfeit crap too. Using Wal-mart would probably just be a case of leaving one mess for another.
We already tried buying a couple of nice late fall coats, only to find they weren't much thicker than a rain coat. Fortunately we were able to return them. Like Amazon, I wont buy anything that isn't an official Walmart product from their website anymore.
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Their web site already has that too.
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You can make some side cash buying out the stores supply of something and then marking it up a bit and selling it through their own storefront! Once in a while Walmart.com shows up results for things like vacuum tubes or car parts they clearly never sold.
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Profitably? (Score:2)
Can free home delivery of groceries ever be profitable without remote controlled robot or drone delivery?
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Can free home delivery of groceries ever be profitable without remote controlled robot or drone delivery?
Walmart has deep pockets. They can run in the red to build market share while they work on the robots.
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Sure, you just raise the prices on everything and make the in-store prices the same as the delivery prices.
Voila, free delivery.
Without? (Score:1)
Can free home delivery of groceries ever be profitable without remote controlled robot or drone delivery?
How much do you think an effective delivery drone costs anyway, compared to a teenager using his or her own car to do deliveries...
Not to mention drones do not last forever and would need regular maintenance.
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When you account for fuel, automobile depreciation, benefits, and the fact that teens go to school in the daytime and are uninterested in that work they would need $20 an hour .. a fleet of autonomous+lightly remote controlled drones may cost much less.
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How much do you pay? Do you live in a city?
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Potentially, yes. Keep in mind that 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Walmart store. If every one of those stores becomes a grocery distribution center as well as a retail location, they could pull it off. Grocery is also their highest margin business so they probably have room there to be very competitive.
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Sure, as long as you make free home delivery expensive enough to cover the costs. Most free things are pretty expensive anyway, so you probably won't sticker-shock people unless you get too greedy.
Official white trash membership card is here (Score:1)
Competition is a Good Thing. walmart.com is crap (Score:2)
Walmart needs to get its act together
walmart.com is a horrendous web site. It's filtering flat out doesn't work.
The number of products available on walmart.com seems to be 10% of what's available on Amazon. People want one-stop shopping.
walmart.com prices are typically higher and sometimes a lot higher.
Kinda Sorta (Score:2)
I admit their website isn't nearly as slick as Amazon's. However, comparing the amount of product on each is not easy, as Amazon's affiliate program clogs up search results with a *lot* of garbage. Other than that, Wirecutter's recommendations are often cheaper on Walmart than Amazon, especially if you don't have Amazon Prime and have to pay for shipping. I ended up buying a dehumidifer from Wal-mart as it was a full $40 cheaper than at Amazon. I had to drive to a Wal-mart to go pick it up, but I'll take a
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Amazon's search is terrible. It shows you one or two items and the rest is semi-related random trash. You really have to watch if you're looking for something specific.
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I've always been surprised at how limited Amazon's search, sort and filtering are, I don't really find Walmart much worse. I agree that they have less than Amazon by a considerable margin, but sometimes that's enough to stop you wading through a lot of fluff. I don't see myself subscribing to this new service though.
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I'm sure that Bezos is quaking in his boots. /s
Isn't this called "Sam's Club"? (Score:1)
Old cable is looking very good now days with (Score:1)
Old cable is looking very good now days with
* One Bill
* One UI
* One set of rules for multi streams at the same time / more then one tv
* One place to call
* One BOX per TV
Breaking (Score:2)
Footage from Amazon shareholder meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Eh, you never know. Walmart, while not as good as good at logistics as Amazon is, is crazy efficient in its own way with an absolutely massive footprint. Now that pretty much everyone pays sales tax on Amazon purchases, a lot of price advantage has evaporated as well.
While I'm not suggesting that Walmart's success here is assured (Prime has quite a bit going for it and there are things Amazon can do that Walmart has no real ability to replicate) there's a decent chance your Thunderbirds video could turn i
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Prepare for Price Increases (Score:5, Informative)
My company has been on Amazon for 12 years, and Walmart for 4-5.
The yearly fee you pay Amazon or Walmart for Prime (and Walmart's Prime Equivalent) does not cover any or all the shipping. We, the sellers, are billed for your "free" 2-day shipping by Amazon, every time. And soon Walmart.. Since we can't just ship in 2 day guaranteed for free, we build this premium cost into the product cost.
Sellers are going to want the extra badge for the free 2-day shipping on Walmart, so they will raise their prices and offer it. Not the worst, BUT if you, the consumer, would have been fine paying less and having it take 3-5 days, you won't be able. Additionally, since both Amazon and Walmart take 15% of the sale (for our category at least), we have to raise the cost even more so that after they take the 15%, we will be left with the difference.
I'm also a consumer and I like getting things quick, but because everyone wants "free" shipping, you are all actually paying more. It is basically a tax on stupidity. An extra line-item is too confusing. Years of studies have shown less checkout abandonment if shipping was "free". Okay then.
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Prepare for price increases.
My company has been on Amazon for 12 years, and Walmart for 4-5.
The yearly fee you pay Amazon or Walmart for Prime (and Walmart's Prime Equivalent) does not cover any or all the shipping. We, the sellers, are billed for your "free" 2-day shipping by Amazon, every time. And soon Walmart.. Since we can't just ship in 2 day guaranteed for free, we build this premium cost into the product cost.
Sellers are going to want the extra badge for the free 2-day shipping on Walmart, so they will raise their prices and offer it. Not the worst, BUT if you, the consumer, would have been fine paying less and having it take 3-5 days, you won't be able. Additionally, since both Amazon and Walmart take 15% of the sale (for our category at least), we have to raise the cost even more so that after they take the 15%, we will be left with the difference.
I'm also a consumer and I like getting things quick, but because everyone wants "free" shipping, you are all actually paying more. It is basically a tax on stupidity. An extra line-item is too confusing. Years of studies have shown less checkout abandonment if shipping was "free". Okay then.
Could your product be available from other stores that don't offer the free 2-day shipping at a cheaper price or is this something that isn't possible due to the contracts with walmart/amazon or for some other reason?
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Why does this comment remind me of someone wanting a discount for paying with cash instead of card?
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Why does this comment remind me of someone wanting a discount for paying with cash instead of card?
I have no idea, in my part of the world cash is more expensive to handle than card. What I was fishing for was one of the two outcomes I can imagine: some products (and I expect a lot of companies are in OP's situation) are due to the nature amazon/walmart conducts it's business cheaper elsewhere or amazon/walmart are engaging in what would seem like price fixing practices which may be illegal. Any answer would be interesting.
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That might be more costly for marketing and even inventory, so the price might be more expensive...
Might be, I don't know and that's why I was asking a direct question.
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Launching during covid would be perfect timing (Score:2)
> the retailer pushed back the launch date after the Covid-19 pandemic began sweeping across the US
Everybody is getting stuff delivered during covid. Seems like that would be the perfect time to launch the program.
Someobody has to do it... (Score:3)
Amazon pretty much has a monopoly on online shopping now so somebody has to give them a run for the money. Walmart is really the only one that can compete with Amazon on logistics.
Yes, Walmart's website kind of sucks but that can be fixed. Amazon's site wasn't always great either. Same day delivery for some items would be appealing. Things like BBQ pellets, toilet paper, diapers, cleaning supplies, etc. are things I could trust to have picked for me. Any food I must pick that myself and I'm willing to drive to the store for that.
None of the Walmart's near me have a gas station so that, unfortunately for me, is a nonstarter. But that's one thing Amazon doesn't offer.
Where I think Walmart is going to have trouble competing with Amazon are the additional Prime goodies like music streaming, photo storage, borrowing books, Prime Video, etc. When you factor all of that in it is a pretty compelling argument for going with Prime.
I'm not sure if it will be successful for Walmart or not but at least they are trying to compete in that arena. Seems like the rest of the retailers are just going belly up.
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+1
As well, Amazon's web interface is so much more effective, and Walmart's seems to claim that you can buy anything from them even though the things I may be looking for aren't Walmart's forte.
So it's a money thing (Score:3)
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...Walmart won't let you pick up groceries same-day...
Right now, my local Walmart has open pickup slots 3.5 hours in the future. Do be sure you are on their local pickup site [walmart.com] and not the default online-shopping site.
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