X

Amazon Prime competitor Walmart Plus in testing phase

The retail giant has been testing the paid membership service for a year and a half, says a report.

Corinne Reichert Senior Editor
Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.
Expertise News, mobile, broadband, 5G, home tech, streaming services, entertainment, AI, policy, business, politics Credentials
  • I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Corinne Reichert
walmart

Primed for an Amazon smackdown?

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Walmart is again putting together a paid membership program to compete with Amazon Prime . The retail giant has been working on a service called Walmart Plus for 18 months, as reported earlier Thursday by Vox. The service could be tested publicly next month, Vox said, and would be a rebranding of the big-box chain's $98 a year Delivery Unlimited program for grocery shopping.

Walmart Plus, which was confirmed by Walmart in an email, could also include text messaging to place orders at stores, Vox reported.

Walmart rolled out a similar program, called ShippingPass, in 2015 but canceled it two years later. ShippingPass offered unlimited two-day shipments on Walmart.com for $49 a year. 

Originally published Feb. 27, 1:01 p.m. PT.
Update, 3:37 p.m.: Adds confirmation from Walmart.

Watch this: Inside Amazon's brand-new cashierless grocery store