Walmart+ Strategy: How It Became the Default for Household Logistics

Leaders from the world’s largest companies, equity research firms, hedge funds, and the Federal Reserve rely on Morning Consult’s 30,000 daily survey interviews in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands, economic indicators, and risk metrics. Schedule a demo to access the always-on consumer signal.

Category Advantage measures the drivers of brand strength by capturing both mental availability (likelihood a brand comes to mind) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with a brand) among all competitors. Schedule a private briefing on this research. .

The bottom line up front  

Walmart+ is the category's strongest 'household logistics' brand—dominating grocery/essentials CEPs with an advantage rooted in physical availability, price trust, and scale. The growth mandate is not to become DoorDash or Uber Eats, but to expand the number of everyday situations in which Walmart+ is the first brand recalled. Turn Walmart+ from 'the best way to skip the store' into the default solution for everyday household needs.

The Category Landscape

Food & beverage delivery is mentally structured around two distinct competitive lanes: restaurant-first aggregators (DoorDash, Uber Eats) and retail-native players (Walmart+, Instacart, Amazon Fresh). Walmart+ leads the retail lane with a structural advantage no pure-play delivery app can replicate.

DoorDash and Uber Eats own 'feed me now'—impulsive, late-night, social meal occasions. Walmart+ owns 'stock my household'—planned replenishment, essentials, family provisioning. These are fundamentally different jobs in consumer memory, and Walmart+ wins by leaning into that difference, not fighting it.

Walmart+ is mentally coded as planned, practical, and household-oriented—not impulsive or indulgent. That is exactly why it is powerful.

Walmart+ dominates household logistics CEPs. The advantage is not memory-based alone—it is backed by physical infrastructure and price credibility, making these CEPs defensible and scalable.

Where Walmart+ Stands

The Good News

• Walmart+ has the strongest household CEP footprint in the category. 51% for 'skip the grocery store,' 54% for 'essentials delivered quickly,' 50% for 'game day stocking.' These are not close races—Walmart+ leads by double digits over the next competitor in its core CEPs.

• The advantage is structural, not just perceptual. Physical store density, price trust, and logistics scale create a moat that pure-play delivery apps cannot replicate. Walmart+ can promise speed, selection, and value simultaneously because the infrastructure exists.

• Families and mid-life households are natural Walmart+ territory. 35–64 year-olds over-index on 'feeding the family on busy weekends' and 'skip grocery' CEPs. Walmart+ already wins here—growth comes from adding more household moments, not stealing share from restaurant aggregators.

• Price trust is an emotional multiplier. MCI and Category Advantage both show that value certainty amplifies conversion once salience exists. Walmart+ owns 'safe, reliable, and smart' in ways competitors cannot easily match.

The Challenge

Walmart+ dominates its lane—but that lane has natural boundaries.

• Restaurant meal-relief CEPs belong to DoorDash and Uber Eats. Walmart+ is weak on 'busy/tired meal relief' (19%), late-night snacks (20%), and social dining occasions. These gaps are structural—restaurant aggregators have the merchant coverage and brand memory to own them. Competing head-on would be inefficient and margin-destructive.

• Instacart competes in the same grocery lane. Instacart's advantages are retailer breadth and premium flexibility. Walmart+ must press its advantages—price trust, physical stores, scale—to maintain separation. Speed + value + certainty must be inseparable in memory.

• Network size growth requires new household moments, not just deeper penetration. Walmart+ already wins its core CEPs. The growth opportunity is expanding the number of everyday situations that cue Walmart+—not just getting higher scores on the same occasions.

The Core Insight: Walmart+ should own the mental territory of 'everything my household needs, without the trip.' Not groceries alone. Not meals alone. But everyday household problems solved efficiently and affordably. If DoorDash owns 'I'm exhausted, feed me' and Uber Eats owns 'life is happening, bring food,' then Walmart+ should own: 'My household runs smoothly because Walmart+ exists.'

Who Uses Walmart+ Today

Strongest Segments (Defend and Reinforce)

• Ages 35–64 (household managers): Over-index on 'feeding the family on busy weekends' and 'skip grocery' CEPs. These users value reliability, value certainty, and practical solutions. Priority: expand the number of household moments they associate with Walmart+.

• Lower- and middle-income households: Rely on Walmart+ for value certainty. Price trust is the primary driver. Priority: reinforce 'always the smart choice' messaging and never give reasons to question value.

• Regional strongholds (South, Midwest): CEP strength is most defensible where store density is high. Priority: push harder into everyday default status in these regions—game day, school weeks, holidays.

Opportunity Segments (Extend Selectively)

• Higher-income households: Increasingly use Walmart+ for time savings, not just price. Priority: premiumize convenience (faster windows, better substitution guarantees) without losing value halo.

• Younger households (21–34): Under-index on Walmart+ relative to older segments. Priority: short-form social content showing 'life admin solved'—not repositioning, but relevance.

Five strategic priorities for Walmart+ based on this research

1. Expand the household CEP network (primary growth lever). Increase the number of everyday situations that cue Walmart+ in memory. 'Weekly reset' bundles (pantry + fresh + household), smart replenishment prompts tied to calendar moments (game day, school weeks, holidays), family-sized bundles surfaced by occasion. KPI: Network Size growth among family households and heavy users.

2. Make prepared food a household solution, not a restaurant proxy. Capture meal-adjacent occasions where Walmart already has credibility. Reframe prepared foods as 'dinner solved,' 'lunch for the week,' 'game-day ready'—not late-night indulgence. Rotisserie + sides + drinks bundles, school-week dinner kits, pickup + delivery hybrid offers. This grows meal penetration without fighting DoorDash's core CEPs.

3. Lean into 'value certainty' as an emotional multiplier. Make Walmart+ feel safe, reliable, and smart. Clear substitution rules ('always cheaper or equal'), price-lock messaging for staples, guarantees around freshness, timing, and refunds. This reinforces trust—especially among families and older households.

4. Premiumize convenience selectively (income expansion). Offer tiered convenience: paid faster windows for time-pressed users, priority slots for subscribers, guaranteed same-day essentials in dense markets. This captures higher-income users who value time savings without diluting value positioning for core segments.

5. Measure success through household metrics, not restaurant-delivery comparisons. Track Network Size growth (Total + family households), CEP penetration for 'skip grocery' and 'essentials quickly,' repeat order rate, and Walmart+ subscriber penetration among heavy users. Don't benchmark against DoorDash's meal-relief share—benchmark against Instacart and Amazon Fresh in household logistics.

About this research

Morning Consult conducts over 30,000 daily proprietary surveys in 45 countries covering more than 5,000 brands and 50 economic indicators. 

Our category advantage research is aimed at understanding the needs driving consumers in your category — and how your brand can own more of them. This research is built on validated principles of brand-driven growth and powered by Morning Consult’s industry-leading sampling technology.

Measure the true drivers of brand strength

Capture both mental availability (the likelihood your brand comes to mind when consumers face a need or occasion) and emotional closeness (how strongly consumers connect with your brand), benchmarked against competitors.

Uncover Category Entry Points (CEPs)

Directly tied to mental availability, see the specific needs, occasions, and triggers that drive purchase decisions in your category, and how strongly your brand is linked to them.

Pinpoint growth opportunities

Direct investment toward the moments and consumer segments with the greatest potential to grow your brand.

Turn insights into action fast

Get survey results in 4–5 days through a centralized dashboard and short-form memo that equips stakeholders with clear direction on where and how to win.

Learn more