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Walmart’s new pickup discount will pay you for your time

By on April 12, 2017

walmart-pickup

Launching on April 19, Walmart will start offering a new program via Walmart.com called the Pickup Discount. Starting on 10,000 items at first, customers will receive a small discount on items that are shipped to a store for pickup rather than shipping to home.

Ramping up to more than one million items by the end of June 2017, discounts will vary based on the cost of shipping the item to the customer. For instance, the cost of a 70″ HDTV would drop by $50 if the customer chooses to pick it up. This discount will appear on the product page.

In a sense, this is an indirect competitor to Amazon Prime using a reverse strategic direction. While Amazon asks customers to pay $99-a-year for free two-day shipping, Walmart is paying the customer for playing an active role in the pickup rather than lazily waiting for it to arrive.

walmart-pickup-discount-product-page

Conceptually, this will allow Walmart to undercut Amazon’s pricing model at a dollar figure that’s equivalent to the shipping cost. However, it’s unclear if customers will take the discount and visit a B&M location over never having to leave their home.

Of course, this discount could be ideal for items that routinely get damaged during shipping like HDTVs and other electronics. Customers would be able to handle their items with care, hopefully in good shape when picked up at the store.

FYI, we will be adding a notation on relevant Ben’s Bargains deal posts related to the additional discount for in-store pickups.

About Mike Flacy

Editor-in-Chief for The CheckOut. During my free time, I love to write about pop culture, home theater, digital photography, social media, mobile technology and cool gadgets!

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