Walmart+ Lacks The Imagination It Needs To Make A Lasting Impression

Walmart’s new subscription program, Walmart+, is slowly becoming the retail equivalent of watching paint dry. What started with so much promise when it was announced in September 2020 now feels like that scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, when numerous high school students were asleep and drooling on their desks to the sounds of Ben Stein’s monotonous voice.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the announcement that Walmart made this past week about the early discounts it plans to give Walmart+ subscribers during its upcoming November Deal Days.

From the hours of 3 p.m. ET to 6 p.m. ET on Nov. 3 and 10, Walmart+ subscribers will receive priority access to deals that will not get released to the regular going public until 7 p.m. ET on each of these respective days.

And that sound you hear? 

Oh, it is just the sound of the late Sam Walton rolling over 1+ times in his grave. 

Because the idea, while it sounds innocuous on the surface, is one part boring airline priority boarding, one part unimaginative, old school merchandising, and all elitist.

And, moreover, it smacks Walmart’s brand promise of “Save Money. Live Better” right in the face.

Sure the rest of America can shop for the table scraps of whatever is left after the four hour deal feeding frenzy, but sorry, America, we (Walmart) are making sure that the people who pay us damn near $100 per year for a Walmart+ membership get first dibs at the trough, and, more importantly, the extra confidence that little Timmy (and his relatively more well-off parents) will get what they want under the tree this coming Christmas.

Now, sure, any membership program could come with this type of critique at some level, but Walmart still should know better. 

When Walmart+ first debuted, the program came with things like fuel discounts, access to a scan-and-go mobile shopping application, and unlimited free delivery, but never did it inherently pit people that have more money to spend against those who don’t over a finite number of resources.

That is what is different about this latest wrinkle to Walmart+, and it also speaks to a much bigger problem — namely, that Walmart+ could be so much more than it is. 

In the past year, Walmart has oddly refused to provide any statistics on the number of members that have signed up for the program. Not only is this lack of information cause for alarm, but when taken with a holiday deal incentive that will likely see people sign up to get the deals only to cancel their subscriptions later, it begins to smell a little like an act of late Q4 holidays earnings desperation, too.

It should also be noted that Walmart was asked to comment on the current state of its Walmart+ subscriber base and the rationale for its holiday promotion in light of its stated brand promise for this article, but Walmart did not respond in time for publication.

Overall, Walmart can and should do better. 

First, Walmart+ should always be grounded in Walmart’s brand promise of helping people to save money and to live better and never pit Walmart’s customers against one another.

Every element of the program, therefore, should stand on its own as an elective benefit for whomever wants it and not as something that ever stands a chance of disenfranchising someone else for another person’s benefit (a point that is especially poignant this holiday season with all reported supply chain issues of late).

Second, Walmart+, when executed correctly, should also get Walmart’s flywheel going in new ways that make 1 + 1 = 3 and, as a result, should never play on isolated one time events. Or said another way, it is great that there are deals to be had in November, but then what?

Better, far more interesting avenues for Walmart to explore with Walmart+ would be things like discounts to Walmart’s newly stood up health clinics, prescription drug benefits, or even free memberships to Sam’s Club.

For example, the starting base level annual membership to Sam’s Club starts at $45. That’s an almost $60 delta between what Walmart as a company would receive from a $98 Walmart+ subscription over and above what it would receive for a Sam’s Club membership on its own. 

Such an idea would likely get more people shopping at Sam’s Club and also at Walmart as well because generally people become more sticky and loyal the more they interact with retailers across their various in-store and digital properties. 

Walmart gifting a Sam Club membership with a Walmart+ subscription would be a proverbial gangster move straight out of Amazon’s playbook, and a move that frankly no other retailer could touch. No other retailer, for instance, has both a warehouse club operation and a mass merchandising superstore operation under its belt.

That is the definition of 1 + 1 equaling 3. 

The beauty of a digital mindset is that it brings opportunities for scale that wouldn’t exist as easily on their own, but sadly Walmart appears to lack the imagination to think on this scale and instead is beholden to holdover ideas from airplane loyalty programs and Diners Club cards, ideas that, while they probably sound imaginative to old school merchants sitting around a boardroom table, really don’t add up to a hill of beans over time. 

Save Money. Live Better?

Yes, please, Walmart.

America needs you and wants you to dream bigger with them, and as a result, it is your responsibility as a corporate citizen to give the world far more than early discounts to more flat screen television sets.