US retail giant Wal-Mart (WMTpokerfelt.US) Get involved in pet telemedicine services to expand membership. The retailer said it will add pet telemedicine services this year as a Walmart+ userpokerfeltA new benefit.
The service represents Walmart+'s first health care benefit and is part of Walmart's efforts to retain and add members. These Walmart+ users can get free delivery for $98 a year.
Venessa Yates, senior vice president and general manager of Wal-Mart, said that when Wal-Mart tests pet telemedicine services by partnering with online veterinary services company Pawp, it becomes the top benefit for members to redeem in 2023.
Yates and his team studied Walmart+'s various benefits, such as cashback travel rewards and streaming, and observed which benefits were important to users. Yates said that about 75% of Walmart+ members have pets, which is a good choice for retailers.
For Walmart, the Walmart+ Membership Program is a new business designed to increase profit margins and loyalty. The company has not disclosed membership numbers since launching the program in 2020, but said its user base continues to grow at double-digit percentages. Industry estimates that Walmart+ has between 10 million and 60 million users. The company also recently launched a discounted version for people receiving supplementary nutritional benefits called SNAP.
Walmart+ is still much smaller than Amazon Prime, which has approximately 180 million users in the United States. Wal-Mart is also competing with other retailers, who have added perks such as gas discounts and streaming to attract more users. According to reports, Kroger (KR.US) and Disney (DIS.US) are in talks to add Disney+ to Kroger's membership program. Target (TGT.US) launched a new paid membership program in April this year.