Forbes reports that after almost a year of testing its Shipping Pass program - designed to compete with Amazon Prime - to an invitation-only group of customers, Walmart seems to be ready to roll it out. The company has reduced the guaranteed shipping time from three days to two, cut the annual fee from $50 to $49 (not a big deal...but still a lot cheaper than prime's $99 annual fee), and now is making membership available to anyone who wants it.
While it seems that Walmart faces an uphill battle against Amazon.com, it appears the big discounter could reap some big benefits – demographically speaking – should ShippingPass become a permanent part of its arsenal." Part of Walmart's problem is that the age of its customers tends to skew older, and "attracting both Gen X and Millennial shoppers via ShippingPass would be a boon to Walmart."
While it seems that Walmart faces an uphill battle against Amazon.com, it appears the big discounter could reap some big benefits – demographically speaking – should ShippingPass become a permanent part of its arsenal." Part of Walmart's problem is that the age of its customers tends to skew older, and "attracting both Gen X and Millennial shoppers via ShippingPass would be a boon to Walmart."
- KC's View:
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The other problem is that Amazon Prime has taken on a kind of cultural importance - so many people have it and use it and talk about it. It is going to take a lot of time and effort and money to get Shipping Pass - a far less compelling name, by the way - to come anywhere close to that kind of ubiquity.
