Walmart+ subscriptions are growing slowly! Walmart executives: User experience is more important than the number of users

According to foreign media reports, Walmart+ will celebrate its first anniversary this month, but the service has not grown much since its launch. Compared with Amazon Prime members, which have 171 million U.S. consumer users (accounting for 66%), Walmart+ currently has less than 49 million U.S. consumer users (accounting for 19%).

Walmart+ launched in September 2020 and reached 44 million users in its first month, climbing to nearly 56 million by November, although nearly a quarter of these users were on a free trial, which equates to only about 4 million new Walmart+ users in a year. In addition, the percentage of Walmart+ users on a free trial is more than twice that of Amazon Prime, suggesting that consumers may not think that subscribing to the service is very worthwhile.

Walmart+ has long been seen as Walmart's move to challenge Amazon Prime, but data shows that consumers do not see Walmart+ as a substitute for Amazon Prime, but more of a supplement. Most Walmart+ users also use Amazon Prime, with 16% of respondents saying they use both at the same time, and only 3% of respondents subscribing to Walmart+.

However, more than 31% of consumers, or nearly 81 million people, said they use neither service, which would leave plenty of room for Walmart and Amazon to increase their respective user numbers.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said he is more concerned about the quality of consumers' experience with Walmart+ than the number of users, and said the top priority is to expand Walmart's ability to fulfill more online grocery orders. Groceries account for about 56% of Walmart's total sales and are a key driver for many users to subscribe to Walmart+.

While it still faces many headwinds and lags far behind Amazon Prime, Walmart shows no signs of backing down from the fight. In fact, this summer the company hired 19-year American Express veteran Chris Cracchiolo to lead Walmart+, a move many saw as a sign that its long-term plans have not changed.

Editor ✎ Xiao Zhu/

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