Walmart Shares Soar After Company Announces Subscription Service

Shares of big-box retailer Walmart were heading higher this week after Wall Street reacted favorably to the company announcing the launch date for Walmart+.

Walmart+ will be launching in about two weeks. The company said the subscription service will debut nationwide Sept. 15th and will cost $98 a year or $12.95 a month.

Walmart+ members will get unlimited free home delivery of more than 160,000 items sold in stores, including groceries, so long as they spend at least $35 per order. They will also get discounts of up to 5 cents a gallon for fuel and access to a Scan & Go app that allows shoppers to skip the checkout line.

According to Moody’s retail analyst Charlie O’Shea, Walmart is leaning on its grocery business and its footprint of more than 4,700 stores by delivering food and other items from its brick-and-mortar locations to member’s homes as fast as same day. The analyst said Walmart+ and Amazon Prime would be like comparing “apples and watermelons.”

O’Shea said comparing Walmart+ and Amazon Prime is like “apples and watermelons.” Amazon’s service costs slightly more at $119 a year or $12.99 a month, but it includes a large library of TV shows and movies.

Shares of Walmart hit a new 52-week ihgh on the news and saw its market cap rise to $418 billion on Tuesday.

Walmart’s chief customer officer, Janey Whiteside, downplayed its intent to compete with Amazon Prime and described the service as a “life hack.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and have not been compensated for this article.