Walmart Just Embarrassed Amazon Prime With Quiet Launch of New Combo Membership Deal

Amazon Prime members just watched their membership bill climb past $139 a year.

Walmart built a membership deal aimed directly at those same frustrated shoppers.

Walmart just made a move that could make canceling Amazon Prime an easy decision.

The $218 Bill That Just Became a $120 One

Walmart announced on October 20, 2026, that shoppers can now get Walmart+ and Sam's Club Plus together for $120 a year.

Buy them separately and the math is brutal.

Walmart+ alone runs $98 a year.

Sam's Club Plus alone runs $120 a year.

That is $218 for two memberships Walmart is now selling as one for $120, a savings of nearly a hundred dollars.

Customers already locked into one program are not left out.

Annual Walmart+ members can add Sam's Club Plus for $22 more a year.

Sam's Club members can upgrade to Plus for $60 and get Walmart+ thrown in at no extra charge.

Current Sam's Club Plus members can simply activate Walmart+ for free.

Field associates at both Walmart and Sam's Club get the combined membership as a job benefit, no payment required.

Free Delivery, Streaming, and Gas Discounts Come Standard

The bundle is not a stripped-down version of either program.

Members get free delivery from both Walmart and Sam's Club.

They get member-only pricing inside every Sam's Club location.

They pick either Peacock or Paramount+ at no additional cost.

They get fuel discounts at the pump across Walmart's existing gas station network.

They earn 2% back in Sam's Cash on eligible purchases.

Walmart Chief Executive John Furner tied the bundle straight to what shoppers are feeling at checkout: "This is a big saving."

That number lands right next to Amazon Prime's $139 annual fee, and Walmart knows exactly what that comparison does to a shopper doing the math at the kitchen table.

Costco Still Has No Answer for This

Costco runs its warehouse business the old way, charging members separately for every perk with no combined streaming-and-delivery bundle in sight.

Amazon built its entire model on the opposite bet, stacking Prime Video, Prime Music, and free shipping onto one card until shoppers forgot they were paying for five services at once.

Walmart just built a third option that borrows Amazon's bundling trick and bolts it onto an actual warehouse club with physical aisles and fresh groceries.

That combination did not exist in the market until October 20, 2026.

Shoppers juggling two separate membership cards, two separate renewal dates, and two separate price hikes finally get to collapse all of it into one $120 charge a year.

Why Walmart Picked This Moment to Make Amazon Blink

Walmart is not making this move from a position of weakness.

Membership fee revenue hit an all-time high, climbing 17% in the most recent quarter.

Walmart+ membership climbed by double digits that same quarter, and Sam's Club added members on the strength of that same 17% jump.

Walmart told investors the bundle will not materially change its fiscal third-quarter or full-year guidance, the same guidance it issued on August 20, 2026.

This is a company with momentum choosing to undercut Amazon anyway, while inflation sat at 3.7% in September and every grocery bill in the country felt heavier than it did a year earlier.

Walmart priced its version of the Costco-and-Amazon bundling playbook $19 cheaper than Amazon's membership, while still adding a physical warehouse club Amazon cannot replicate.

Furner also pointed to earlier holiday shopping as a second reason for the timing: shoppers are already further into their gift lists than they were at this point a year ago, and a cheaper combined membership locks those same shoppers into Walmart's stores and website right as that spending accelerates toward Christmas.

Every dollar a senior on a fixed income saves by dropping a redundant membership is a dollar that stays in their pocket instead of a tech company's quarterly earnings report.

Grocery prices climbed and never came back down, and most families gave up waiting for relief from Washington years ago.

Costco members have watched their own annual fee climb over the years with no bundle in sight to soften it.

That is not a marketing gimmick.

That is Walmart betting that shoppers have finally gotten tired of paying twice for the same convenience, and betting that bet will cost Amazon market share it cannot easily win back.

The next move belongs to Amazon, and a $139 price tag with no warehouse club attached just got a lot harder to defend.

Sources:

• Daniella Genovese, "Walmart Rolls Out Discounted Membership Bundle as Inflation Squeezes Shoppers," Fox Business, October 20, 2026.
• Chain Store Age Staff, "Walmart Bundles Walmart+, Sam's Club Plus Paid Membership Programs," Chain Store Age, October 20, 2026.
• New York Post Staff, "Walmart Rolls Out New Bundle Combining Walmart+ and Sam's Club Plus," New York Post, October 20, 2026.