Walmart partners with BNPL platform in Walmart+ promotion
Walmart is rewarding high-spending Affirm users with a free trial Walmart+ membership.
During the month of August, eligible consumers who spend $300 or more on a single purchase with the buy now pay later (BNPL) solution Affirm at Walmart, either in-store or online, will receive a free 90-day Walmart+ membership. Members of the Walmart+ program, which normally costs $12.95 a month/$98 a year, receive exclusive benefits such as free shipping with no order minimum, free delivery from stores, and discounted gas prices.
Walmart has been offering a flexible BNPL payment option with Affirm since February 2019, when the discounter began allowing customers to use Affirm to make installment payments on purchases at more than 4,000 Walmart Supercenter stores nationwide. Walmart also integrated Affirm as a payment option on the Walmart.com e-commerce site, and makes the service available in Walmart Vision Centers.
Since then, Walmart has replaced its layaway program with installment payments from Affirm. Eligible Walmart customers can use Affirm to pay over time in monthly payments for purchases ranging from $144 to $2,000.
Walmart has been bulking up Walmart+, initially launched in September 2020, with several different promotions in the past year. In March 2022, Walmart made the program available free to all full- and part-time Walmart U.S. associates working in the company’s stores, distribution centers and fulfillment centers. This added nearly 1.6 million members to the offering.
At that time, the company also began also collaborating with the Spotify music streaming platform to offer a special promotion for Walmart+ members. New and existing Walmart+ members can receive six months of the Spotify Premium content streaming service for free.
Walmart also extended free Walmart+ membership to U.S. associates following a promotion for American Express Platinum cardholders it launched in October 2021. Holders of the American Express Platinum card (which has an annual membership fee of $695) who use their card to purchase a monthly Walmart+ membership can receive a statement credit which covers the full monthly membership cost of $12.95 a month, plus applicable taxes.
In addition, in July 2022, the discount giant began making its InHome delivery service, which delivers groceries straight to a customer’s kitchen or garage fridge, available as an optional add-on within the Walmart+ program for $10 less than previous annual pricing when Walmart+ and InHome were separate memberships. What were previously two standalone memberships are now combined as a single, streamlined offering.
“Since first launching our partnership with Walmart in 2019, consumer demand has continued to increase and Affirm transactions at Walmart have meaningfully accelerated,” said Pat Suh, senior VP of revenue at Affirm. “By bringing together the convenience and savings of Walmart+ with Affirm's smart, responsible way to pay overtime, we are helping Walmart customers make their money go even further – just in time for back to school and holiday shopping.”
Based in Bentonville, Ark., Walmart Inc. operates more than 10,500 stores and clubs under 46 banners in 24 countries and e-commerce websites.