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After weeks of anticipation<\/a>, Walmart is finally set to launch its membership program, Walmart+<\/a>. The program will become available on September 15, reaching over 4,700 Walmart stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For $98 per year, Walmart+ will offer members perks such as unlimited free delivery on groceries and other Walmart items, fuel discounts, access to a new Scan & Go checkout service, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Promising over 160,000 items available for same-day delivery, Walmart+ will match Walmart\u2019s existing Delivery Unlimited program and transfer existing members to the new service. Customers using the service will not be charged delivery fees on orders worth $35 or more. Deliveries will be picked up by existing delivery programs such as DoorDash and Postmates, rather than an in-house team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walmart+ members will also gain access to exclusive savings of 5 cents per gallon on any fuel type at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA and Murphy Express stations across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And members of the new service will get to use Walmart\u2019s Scan & Go perk, a service that lets customers scan their products as they shop and pay using Walmart Pay\u2019s touch-free checkout service. This means Walmart+ customers will never have to wait in line\u2014a bonus amid the ongoing pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The membership also includes access to the Shopify merchants that list their products on the Walmart Marketplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The new service will become available on September 15, and includes a 15-day free trial. After that customers can pay the $98 in one go or make monthly payments of $12.95. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The retail giant plans to scale and evolve the program to offer more services over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are a company committed to meeting our customers\u2019 needs,\u201d said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer, Walmart. \u201cCustomers know they can trust us and depend on us, and we\u2019ve designed this program as the ultimate life hack for them. Walmart+ will bring together a comprehensive set of benefits where we see the greatest needs from our customers and where our scale can bring solutions at an unprecedented value.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walmart reportedly has plans to eventually roll out a branded credit card as well as a video entertainment function (similar to Amazon\u2019s Prime Video) that Walmart+ members would have access to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite obvious comparisons to Amazon\u2019s Prime program, Walmart claims their new membership service is not designed to compete with any other brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re not launching Walmart+ with the intent to compete with anything else. We\u2019re launching it with the needs of customers in mind,\u201d explained Whiteside<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOf course, I hope that brings in more customers and makes them more loyal, but when you\u2019re as big as Walmart is \u2014 and serving as many people as we are \u2014 this is about really doubling down with the customers that we have and getting more share of wallet and more share of mind,\u201d Whiteside added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n