One of the greater perks of Amazon Prime is its streaming service, Prime Video, and Walmart appears to be doing something similar to convince more people into joining its own membership service.
As reported by The New York Times, Walmart is looking into bundling a streaming service into its Walmart+ membership program, whose current benefits include free shipping and free deliveries from stores for orders equaling or exceeding $35. Executives from Paramount, Disney, and Comcast have already spoken with the retail giant, according to sources, indicating that many of their hit movies and TV shows might be added to Walmart+ in the future.
Not surprisingly, this is all about Walmart wanting to expand its relationship with its customers beyond its stores, as noted by the Times.
Walmart, with its thousands of stores frequented by millions of customers weekly, has long been a major center of gravity in the entertainment sector. The retailer’s power to sell music, movies and merchandise made the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., a destination for studio chiefs, musicians and entrepreneurs looking to court the company’s favor.
As consumption of music, movies and TV shows shifts online, Walmart has explored different strategies to retain its media primacy, including buying a streaming service called Vudu and investing in Eko, an interactive video company.
Walmart ended up selling Vudu to ticketing giant Fandango in 2020, but the retailer clearly hasn’t given up on entering the video-streaming business.
A Walmart+ membership costs $12.95 per month (or $98/year) and also offers its members discounts on fuel.
Source: The New York Times (alternate link)