Why we designed the ultimate life hack – Walmart+

Today we officially launch our new membership program, Walmart+, and I couldn’t be more excited about what it means for our customers. While you’ll likely hear a lot about the functional benefits of Walmart+ like free unlimited delivery, Scan & Go and fuel discounts, I wanted to take a moment to go deeper into the customer insights that inspired our membership and its first suite of benefits.

When Sam Walton founded Walmart more than fifty years ago, he began with the simple idea of selling more for less. He also made it clear there was only one boss—the customer. We have always been a champion for the right item at the right price, but now it’s more than that. We have the right shopping solutions at the right time, too.

It's more than have the right item at the right price. Now, we have the right shopping solutions at the right time, too.

 Understanding our Customers’ Wants and Needs

Today’s customers are busier than ever and shop in a way that best meets their needs in the moment. One moment it may be shopping in-store, the next it may be placing an order on Walmart.com for delivery and the next, using the Walmart app for free curbside pickup. In other words, the way customers shop isn’t binary. And the good news is: these services are available to all of our customers and, most importantly, they love them.

But we also know because customers are busier than ever, they often find themselves deciding between what’s best for their budget and what’s most convenient. One customer put it perfectly when she said, “Our biggest struggle is how we want to spend quality time together, but the time allocated to us has to go to buying groceries or figuring out the budget. How can we spend as little time as possible doing these daily things to spend the most together as a family?”

“Our biggest struggle is how we want to spend quality time together, but the time allocated to us has to go to buying groceries or figuring out the budget. "

That’s why we designed Walmart+. With a membership, we can plus up our core value propositions and help solve many of their concerns related to saving time and money with services that can keep them focused on what matters most to them.

And as with everything we do, we looked to customers to understand their most needed benefits.

 Customer-Centric Benefits

We’ve planning Walmart+ for quite some time when the pandemic hit. But when shopping preferences began changing, almost daily, we did what any customer-centric company would do— we pivoted to lunch with benefits that would matter most to customers today.

Free Unlimited Delivery

Customers spend an average of 2.5 hours of shopping per week. Over the year that’s a lot of time … 130 hours to be exact. When we asked customers in an internal survey, 86% said spending more time with family and friends is a top priority. By providing them the opportunity to skip the store and have items delivered right to their door, we’re able to give them back loads of time. That’s why it was critical for us to launch Walmart+ with free unlimited delivery. With it, customers can shop in-store prices on more than 160,000 items from across all of our departments, not just grocery, which means Walmart+ members can shop their local Supercenter on the Walmart app from the comfort of their couch, in their pajamas and have it delivered right to their doorstep.

 Scan & Go

Our core customer uses mobile payment and prefers self-checkout to save time. So, we “plussed” up the concept of self-checkout by giving members the fastest way to shop in-store with Scan & Go via the Walmart app. Think about it … the average shopping list typically takes 50 minutes to complete in-store, from entry to exit. Now imagine walking through the aisles while scanning and simultaneously paying for the items on your list from your mobile phone. Scan & Go is a contactless service that will get you in and out of the store, adding precious time back to your day.

 Fuel Discounts

To top off the list of benefits, Walmart+ members can save up to 5 cents a gallon on gas at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA and Murphy fuel stations. Why is this benefit important? This one is simple, we’re helping put money back in our customers’ pocket.

Our purpose has always been about being more than just a retailer. Our purpose is to help our customers save money and live better. This membership isn’t just a regular membership program, this one is different. So if you’re a busy family looking for ways to manage the things you have to do, so you can spend more time on the things you want to do, I’d like to invite you to try our new ultimate life hack, Walmart+.