Walmart will not only dangle discounts on giant TVs, air fryers and Legos this holiday season. It will also push its subscription service, Walmart+.
The retail giant said Monday that the program’s members will be first in line for Black Friday deals this holiday season. Those customers can start shopping online sales four hours earlier than other shoppers throughout the month of November.
By granting that special access, Walmart is betting it can boost its membership — particularly at a time when many holiday shoppers are already worried about out-of-stocks caused by global supply chain challenges.
One-third of consumers are worried about stock availability and not being able to buy what they want or need during the holiday season, according to Accenture’s holiday shopping survey of approximately 1,500 U.S. consumers in August. The same percentage said they plan to do holiday shopping earlier this year.
A sizeable number — 36% — said they already have noticed empty shelves when shopping in stores and 26% said they have noticed more out of stocks when shopping online, according to the survey.
Best Buy is using a similar strategy this holiday. It’s nudging people to sign up for its subscription service, Totaltech, by saying that members will get access to hard-to-find items this holiday.
Walmart sees Walmart+ as a way to drive loyalty and win more of customers’ wallets, much like Amazon has done with Prime. It launched Walmart+ about a year ago, shortly before the last holiday season. The membership program costs $99 a year or $12.95 on a month-to-month basis. It includes benefits, such as fuel discounts, access to an app that allows customers to skip the checkout line and free unlimited grocery deliveries to the home for orders of $35 or more
