Walmart rolling out Amazon Prime-like membership program

Walmart is launching a subscription service, called Walmart+, aimed at rivaling the popular Amazon Prime. 

The new membership program will offer unlimited free deliveries on more than 160,000 products from 4,700 Walmart stores. Some 2,700 stores will provide same-day delivery services, too. Walmart already offers customers free curbside pickup, next-day delivery and two-day delivery.

Walmart+ becomes available Sept. 15. It will cost $98 per year, or $12.95 per month, and will include a 15-day free trial period. That's cheaper than Amazon Prime, which runs $119 annually and $12.99 per month. 

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Members will have access to a scan-and-go feature on the Walmart app. Customers will be able to scan items as they shop using a contact-free payment method called Walmart Pay. 

Walmart+ members also can save up to five cents per gallon in fuel discounts at some 2,000 locations. Sam's Club gas stations will be added to the program, too. 

More benefits eventually will be added to the program, the retailer said. 

Anyone who previously participated in Walmart’s Delivery Unlimited subscription service will be automatically enrolled in Walmart+. Delivery Unlimited allowed customers to place an unlimited number of deliveries for a yearly or monthly fee. 

The purpose of the new subscription service is to help "put more time back in customers’ days while continuing to save them money," the company said.

"We are a company committed to meeting our customers' needs," Chief Customer Officer Janey Whiteside said. "Customers know they can trust us and depend on us, and we’ve designed this program as the ultimate life hack for them. Walmart+ will bring together a comprehensive set of benefits where we see the greatest needs from our customers and where our scale can bring solutions at an unprecedented value."