28% of US households with an income of $150,000 are Walmart+ members, more than doubling in a year
We no longer live in a world where online and offline shopping are separate; consumer behaviour, location and online convenience can be used to drive a better shopping experience. One of the largest online retailers, Amazon, now has its own physical stores, while the largest in-store retailer, Walmart, launched its own online rewards program in 2020.
Now, a few years later, Walmart is starting to make real profits against Amazon Prime, at least in one key area, wealthy shoppers.
According to data from the business intelligence service Prosper Insights & Analytics, as reported by Bloomberg, 28% of U.S. households with annual incomes of at least $150,000 were members of Walmart+ in February, more than doubling the 13% who were members at the same time. was in 2022.
Walmart+ has a few potential advantages over Amazon Prime, including price: It costs $98, or $41 less than its competitor, while offering many of the same services. Also, as the company noted when it entered the clinical trial room last year, 90% of Americans live within 10 miles of one of its stores, making it easy for customers to pick up and return their orders.
In addition, Walmart also offers discounted fuel at gas stations across the country, which Amazon does not.
As Bloomberg notes, gaining ground among wealthier shoppers is part of a rebranding effort for Walmart, which has a reputation for appealing to lower- and middle-income shoppers; going forward, wealthier customers will be a top priority for the company, and e-commerce is a big part of that selling point.
That’s not to say Walmart isn’t a long way from closing the gap completely to Amazon Prime, which was also up 7 percentage points year-over-year, capturing 77% of households with at least $150,000. Walmart also lags behind in terms of total subscribers, 18.5 million to 168 million, and Amazon still has a much larger slice of the e-commerce pie, with an expected $431 billion this year, up from $74 billion for Walmart. Overall, Amazon has a 37.6% share of the online market, compared to Walmart’s 6.3%.
However, Walmart+ has a younger user base, with 65% between the ages of 18 and 44, while 51% of Amazon Prime members are in this cohort.
Bloomberg cited a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners study that showed that Amazon Prime stagnated from February 2022 to February 2023, preventing its overall user base from growing during that time, something Amazon disputed in a statement.
“Prime membership continues to grow — in the U.S. and globally — as the value members receive continues to grow,” Amazon spokesperson Bradley Mattinger told Bloomberg.
VatorNews has reached out to Walmart and Amazon for comment on this story. We’ll update when we know more.
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