With the competition for the best and cheapest supermarket being so steep and almost called every single week, companies are trying to differentiate themselves and add services that will help their customers understand that they ae worth a second chance. Pricewise for food, Aldi seems to be in the lead, with Costco being a few spots behind it due to the membership perks that they can provide, but “low cost” retailers like Walmart have fallen far behind because of their increase in prices for basics and they are now trying a new strategy to bring back in a very coveted demographic, retirees.
Walmart’s solution may seem a bit out of the box, but considering they are now prioritizing their new supercenters over their traditional store layouts, it makes sense that they would try to incorporate more ways in which they can take advantage of the new real estate, technologies and organization strategies that they are implementing.
Walmart’s new solution to increase their profit and attract retirees
Although not all retirees choose to have a Medicare Advantage plan, there are many that do, and these retirees can find it quite difficult to make the most out of their benefits. It can be hard to know off the top of your head what is covered by your plan and what is not and where to purchase it, and that is where the new Walmart strategy comes in.
The company has partnered with NationsBenefits and has created a program that links the senior’s Medicare Advantage card to their Walmart.com account. This will allow users of both services to select products covered by the plan, such as vitamins, supplements, first aid items, hygiene products, and certain essential foods without having to think about whether or not they are covered or pay extra for things that they have already paid for.
The feature is fairly intuitive and works by letting the system know which specific items are included and then having the system mark them with a special icon so that seniors know what they are looking for. For those who just want to see the products that they can access, there is also a filter on the website to search only for items covered by their plan to avoid confusion or temptations when shopping on a tight budget.
The same system can be used in store, although it would require users to scan the specific product that they would like to purchase, so this could be a bit slower unless you have a premade list from home and are just double checking before heading for the till.
This idea is great and is setting Walmart apart from their competitors, which is a good thing considering the stiff competition and the very strict budgets people are using nowadays when shopping due to the rising costs of groceries because of inflation and of other associated products thanks to the insane tariff war our president seems to be content to engage in without regard for the repercussions.
But this initiative is not just meant to improve Walmart’s bottom line, it is also meant to help those that need it. According to data provided by the store, more than 60% of Medicare Advantage members do not take advantage of their over-the-counter benefits due to lack of knowledge or them being too complex to decipher and remember. This may be done accidentally by insurance companies, but it does help them save a lot of money that they then do not have to pay out and pads their bottom line while hurting beneficiaries.
Taking advantage of a system is never a good thing, but if you have already paid for the services, you should be able to use them to the fullest, and Walmart understands this.