Walmart Plus has finally launched, and with it the US retail giant hopes to carve off more of the enormous online shopping pie that is currently dominated by Amazon. Walmart's new subscription service was supposed to launch in the spring, but is belatedly available now… you know, just in time for a li'll Amazon Prime Day spoiling.
Walmart Plus offers unlimited free delivery, fuel discounts, and other benefits both online and in-store. And it's not just for groceries either—there are plenty of products relevant to PC building, but unfortunately you're not going to be sticking an Nvidia RTX 3080 in your online basket along with a big Halloween candy order.
Currently the unlimited free delivery service is only available in the 'Pickup & delivery' section, which means the extensive Walmart component list is off the table, but does still mean you can grab some gaming peripherals, such as gaming headsets, keyboards, and mice. And if you want to check it out you can grab a free 15-day trial today to see what it could get you.
It's also worth noting that Walmart Plus is not available everywhere yet, but you can check your home address at the bottom of the main W+ homepage to see whether there's some new Walmart Plus-ness going down in your neck of the woods.
How much is Walmart Plus?
Amazon Prime is a far more complete subscription service, one that gives you early access to deals, super-fast, free delivery on a host of items, and access to Prime Video. And you can often get free trials too.
Outside of the 15-day free trial, a full 12-month subscription to Walmart Plus shakes out at $98 per year, or $12.95 per month. It's probably not much of a surprise that's a little under the price for Amazon Prime. Jeffy B's asking for $119 for a full year, or $12.99 if you'd rather stick with monthly renewals.
Though it's worth pointing out that while you are getting access to Walmart's range of peripherals and gaming stock with free shipping, as well as savings on fuel and groceries, with Amazon you are also getting access to lightning deals, practically any PC component you could want, Amazon Prime Day itself, and the wealth of Amazon Video content available to its members too.
The W+ free unlimited delivery is probably the most tempting part of the whole Walmart Plus package, at least when it comes to online shopping, but it is… not exactly free from limits. In order to actually get your shipping gratis you need to hit the minimum $35 spend on an order. Only then will the delivery fee be set automatically to $0.
You also don't get access to the Express Delivery service as that's not included in the Walmart Plus plan. So what exactly do you get?
Walmart Plus benefits
Free unlimited delivery
Delivery can be as early as the same day, but you don't necessarily get preferential treatment as a W+ member—the slots still operate on a first come, first served basis. But it does also come with one-hour delivery windows.
W+ member fuel prices
At more than 1,500 locations, in Walmart and Murphy gas stations, members can get a discount of 5¢ on every gallon of fuel.
Mobile scan & go
Using the scan & go service from Walmart you can do completely contact-free checking out of your groceries in-store. That means less time at the register, and less time hanging around in your local Walmart.
But the Walmart is promising to add more features and offers. It says: "we're adding more benefits all the time!" Whether it can grow to a level where it rivals Amazon Prime remains very much to be seen, but if it eventually decides to unlock the full Walmart component catalogue it could offer another potential avenue to bag yourself a sought-after Nvidia Ampere card.
