Supermarket giant Walmart appears to be taking a page out of Costco’s book as it introduces a new rule that only allows subscription holders to access certain services and benefits — and customers are just not having it.
Whilst sales totals do not seem to be taking a hit just yet, recent weeks have proven to not be so great for the company. The previous year ended with store closures, and the new year began with the company ending all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies leading to massive backlash and ongoing boycotts as customers and shareholders felt quite insulted by the decision. Is this the beginning of the end for this retailer?
Self-checkout at Walmart sparks controversy amongst customers
Due to the current retail landscape where consumers have been showing a growing preference for online retail, supermarkets like Walmart have had to develop e-commerce platforms if they wished to remain afloat in this economy. Thus Walmart+ was born in 2020 and the company has been working tirelessly towards increasing its number of users.
The catch with Walmart+ is that it is a subscription based membership program and whilst subscribers do gain access to additional discounts and services, the bottom line is that you still have to pay a fee to be able to shop. Whilst this business model has been a roaring success for Costco Warehouses, it appears that Walmart’s price point is not low enough to justify the annual $98 fee for customers.
To worsen matters, the retailer has now limited used of self-checkout counters to membership holders exclusively and shoppers are furious. Customers also noted that the retailer has been limiting the hours during which self checkout is available and redirecting them to cashiers instead.
A recent post on X revealed a shoppers frustration with the system and read as follows, “If I have to pay to buy a product at any store I will never shop at that store chain ever again,” and other users chimed in with agreement.
More posts sharing a similar sentiment were subsequently made.
“First, they made me do someone else’s job by implementing self-checkout,” one user wrote.
“Now they want me to pay them to do someone else’s job. I hate Walmart.”
“If taking jobs away from people by replacing them with computers/robots wasn’t bad enough, they’re now charging already paying customers to pay to use self-checkouts?” asked another.
“They’re not on the payroll.”
One shopper berated the system and called it “paying for the privilege of being your own cashier and bagger.”
“I guess I’ll be going to Kroger, Aldi’s, HEB out of principle,” shared another.
The retailer certainly has to go back to the drawing board in terms of pricing and limits of exclusivity if they hope to retain their customers.
What is Walmart+?
As mentioned above, Walmart+ is the retailer’s subscription based membership service that grants shoppers access to exclusive deals and benefits that do indeed extend beyond the use of self checkout counters.
Members can also benefit from free unlimited deliveries (with no minimum spend required), as well as delivery of produce from your nearest store.
There is also a discount of up to 10 cents per gallon of fuel purchased at over 14,000 locations including popular chains like Exxon, Murphy, or Mobil.
Discounts and free delivery are all well and good, however, the issue arises when customers see the price of a membership which currently stands at $98 annually. This fee is significantly higher than that of Costco Warehouses or Sam’s Club. The annual fee has remained stagnant since the website’s inception in 2020.
Additionally, since then, the program has garnered a substantial number of subscribers amounting to 59 million users. This number actually makes up close to 23% of the population.