Walmart has announced its new Walmart Plus retail subscription service with which it hopes to compete with Amazon Prime in terms of price and in-store benefits. Flipkart, which is owned by the company, already runs a loyalty program in India, making it easy for the company to pare down its new value proposition. The Walmart Plus service is available for $12.95 per month, which is about four cents less than the offer offered by Amazon Prime. However, both guarantee unlimited free shipping, access to early product deals, and can include same-day delivery. In the United States, Walmart is taking the lead over its rival by offering in-store benefits to more than 5,000 scores with same-day shipping. In addition, there may be discounts on products. The first thing Walmart should do for an India launch of Walmart Plus is to slash the subscription, as Amazon Prime charges Rs 129 per month, which is equivalent to $1,77 at the prevailing exchange rate.
A step forward for Amazon
Plus, Amazon has already claimed a decent share of the market, with more than 15 million subscribers to its Amazon Prime subscription. During the Prime Day sales in India on August 6-7, the company reportedly saw its subscriber count increase 2X, with more than 65% of the additions coming from outside India's top 10 cities. Along with access to early bird deals, same-day delivery at no additional cost, Amazon Prime subscribers also get a free subscription to its Prime Music and Prime Video streaming service, which has Netflix and Disney Plus HotStar incorporated. Indian with the original. programs and titles like never before.
Where is Flipkart now?
Faced with this heap of offers, Flipkart found its subscription service (or is it a loyalty program?) pretty tame. To unlock the offer, users need to spend Rs 12.500 on a single bill. This would give them the 50 coins needed to join the Flipkart Plus service. Of course, if one has spent a considerable amount of money making purchases on the portal, it is possible that Flipkart Plus will be unlocked automatically. And once you're a member, you can qualify for one coin for every Rs 250 you spend. And what do customers get? For starters, you get early access to your Big Billion sales. There's free priority shipping, priority customer service, and coin rewards on almost every purchase. In addition, subscribers also receive special offers from other websites for movie, music, travel and home delivery tickets.
What we expect from Walmart Plus in India
If and when Walmart decides to offer the Walmart Plus service in India, we think it would cost much less than US customers pay. Because it has to beat the annual price of Rs 999 that Amazon Prime comes in. And, if no movies or music streaming services are provided with the package, the charges should be at least Rs 200-250 less per year. Flipkart had garnered a million subscribers when the loyalty program launched two years ago, but did not share details of its success afterward. The company had offered Flipkart Plus users early access to its Republic Day sales back in January. After the event, the Walmart-owned company did not share any data on how its loyalty program was doing, leading us to believe that the program is not going as the company had hoped. That's why it would make sense for Walmart Plus to hit Indian shores in any format. The price range should definitely be lower as a flat rate of €98 per year is around Rs. 7.100 at the current exchange rate. And Flipkart would definitely need to provide additional entertainment on top of what's available on Flipkart Video with the subscription to effectively counter the Amazon Prime streaming service.
suspended streaming
Flipkart Videos started streaming last October, but to this day the company hasn't really focused on that side of the business. Although they claim over 5,000 titles in multiple languages, the service hasn't really taken off in the face of fierce competition from the company's big dads. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus HotStar, SonyLiv and a host of regional streaming services are vying for the public's attention in India. Could that mean a deal with rival Netflix, or perhaps Disney Plus HotStar? There's also Jio Platforms, which Walmart is negotiating for a stake. That way, Walmart could get access to Jio's streaming service, which could be exactly what a rival subscription service offering could do. Given that India is witnessing an anti-Amazon movement led by Reliance Retail, it would certainly make sense for Walmart to join in, even at the peripheral level.