Shinshiro International: Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer is preparing to launch a premium subscription service that it hopes will rival that offered by Amazon.com.Amazon’s Prime service offers subscribers unlimited free two-day shipping on over 20 million items as well as limitless photo cloud storage, access to its movie streaming service, music and Kindle e-reader content for $99 a year
Provisionally-named “Tahoe”, the service will offer subscribers a three-day or less delivery time and its soft launch comes hard on the heels of a substantial software and senior personnel overhaul of the retail giant’s e-commerce business.
The move ratchets up competition in e-commerce, where Wal-Mart has been trying to make inroads. While the company is the world’s largest retail chain, Amazon dominates online shopping. Prime has emerged as a key weapon for Seattle-based Amazon because it keeps customers loyal, making it ripe for imitation.
“This is an ambitious undertaking to say the least but such is the scope of Wal-Mart’s resources that, if anyone can pull off a challenge to Amazon, it will be them”, said a Shinshiro International technology sector researcher.
Wal-Mart has said that customers will pay just $50 a year to subscribe to Tahoe but it is unknown whether it will provide similar additional services like photo storage and music although it is unlikely it will provide a video streaming service. The service will be made available by invitation only to begin with and offer a choice of over 1 million products including toys and electronic gadgetry.
Wal-Mart’s online shopping site offers more than 7 million products, less than half the number offered by Amazon but with the sheer scale of its bricks & mortar presence in the United States, the business is well positioned to take on Amazon.com’s “Prime Now” service which offers delivery within the hour.
Shinshiro International says it is regards Wal-Mart stock as a staple holding for the generous dividends it pays.
