Walmart+ takes aim at Amazon Prime, launches September 15

Enlarge / If you've ever wanted full bags of groceries to semi-magically appear on your doorstep, Walmart has a proposition for you. (credit: Walmart)

Although it's arriving several months later than expected, Walmart's answer to Amazon Prime is finally scheduled to launch in two weeks, on September 15. Like Prime, Walmart+ offers unlimited free delivery, with some products available same-day in many markets.

Walmart+ looks cheaper than Amazon Prime at first blush-the annual prices for the services are $98 and $119, respectively-but the difference may be less relevant to each company's bottom line than it looks. Both services also offer a monthly plan, and there's effectively no cost difference there. When paid monthly, Prime and Plus are only four cents apart, at $12.99 and $12.95 per month, respectively.

Although Amazon is the incumbent in any online shopping competition, Walmart does have some advantages. Where Amazon needed to build massive distribution centers from the ground up, Walmart only needed to leverage small-scale deliveries from the distribution centers and stores it already has. Walmart can also offer some products that Amazon generally can't-you'll be able to shop online for local, fresh groceries with Walmart+, as well as get membership-based discounts on gasoline at many of Walmart's brick-and-mortar locations.

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