Walmart readies Amazon Prime fighter

Walmart is finally ready to take on Amazon Prime.

The world’s largest retailer on Tuesday unveiled the details for its own membership program called Walmart Plus.

At $98 a year, that’s cheaper than the $119 annual fee for Amazon Prime.

Walmart Plus customers will get unlimited free delivery, same-day delivery on more than 160,000 items is also available but for that - the order has to be at least $35. There’s a discount on gasoline and Plus members can also skip in-store check-out lines using the Walmart app.

But unlike Amazon Prime, there’s no entertainment included, at least for now. But analysts say that could change, especially if Walmart is successful in teaming up with Microsoft to buy social media craze TikTok.

By launching Walmart Plus, the retailer is playing both defense and offense. It wants to stop Amazon from muscling in on its dominance when it comes to selling food and other groceries, while at the same time it wants to steal market share from Amazon.

Last quarter, Walmart saw its online sales nearly double, marking the biggest growth in online business the company had ever seen.

But Amazon more than held its own, posting its biggest quarterly profit ever as consumers repeatedly shop on Amazon.com during the health crisis.

Amazon investors seem unfazed by the coming competition. The stock touched an all-time high on Tuesday.

Walmart shares rallied to a record high as well.

Walmart Plus goes live on September 15th.