Walmart or Amazon? Millennials Will Take Both, Please

The consumer retail landscape is usually painted in broad strokes of green and blue: Walmart for weekly groceries, beverages and basic household items, Amazon for everything from clothing and housewares to electronics and beauty products. But that picture is far more nuanced. A forthcoming report, “Winning Both Carts: Millennials Drive Surge in Having Amazon Prime and Walmart+ Subscriptions,” by PYMNTS Intelligence, suggests a growing shift in consumer behavior where shoppers increasingly frequent both retail behemoths and don’t stay tied to a single eCommerce marketplace. Think of blurred lines, not color-blocked division.

Nearly one in four U.S. adult consumers now holds monthly subscriptions to both industry giants, almost double 2021’s level. Millennials in particular aren’t content to choose sides in the duopoly. Nearly four in 10, the most of any generational cohort, subscribe to both. Eight in 10 subscribe to just one of the retailers or both.

Why the doubling down? The report suggests that many shoppers are engaged in a calculated pursuit of holistic pocketbook and lifestyle benefits that combine maximum savings, free shipping and streaming perks from Amazon with groceries and fuel discounts from Walmart+. Today’s digitally driven shopping is less about brand loyalty more about strategically straddling the green-blue divide.

The report is based on a survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults that was conducted in early 2025 and reveals a new division of purchasing labor in the consumer psyche.

Pocketbook Strategies

While Amazon reigns supreme for nonessential, higher-ticket items, Walmart is expanding its territory in the realm of groceries, its core strength. Consider this: More than four in 10 dual subscribers last procured their groceries through Walmart+, while only a mere sliver, 4.1%, did so via Amazon. More than a third of millennials, now aged roughly 28–44, made their last grocery purchase at Walmart, compared to just 2.5% at Amazon. Even among Amazon Prime-only subscribers, a not-insignificant share made their most recent non-grocery retail purchase at Walmart. By contrast, Walmart+ subscribers rarely cross over to Amazon for groceries. Shoppers are making their dual memberships a strategic portfolio of purchases.

But the embrace of both platforms doesn’t signify boundless spending. The report, which publishes on April 29, indicates that budget-conscious consumers — those living paycheck to paycheck — are more likely to subscribe to Walmart than to Amazon Prime.

The green-blue division is blurred in other ways. More than one in four households living paycheck to paycheck while struggling to pay bills maintain dual subscriptions, a sign they see the value of combining retailer benefits when budgets are tight.

Dual subscribers spend more money. While Walmart dominates grocery spending, dual subscribers shell out more on average per retail transaction at Amazon ($110) compared to Prime-only ($78) or Walmart+-only ($75) members. The signal: those subscribers may be value-conscious, but they’re also a significant driver of Amazon’s non-grocery revenue. Millennials, the vanguard of this dual subscription trend, particularly engage in this spending pattern.

The narrative, then, shifts from a simple binary choice to a more intricate layering. Consumers aren’t just picking a side; they’re intentionally leveraging the strengths of each retail behemoth, creating a personalized consumption ecosystem of benefits and conveniences.

The enduring image of Walmart as mainly a grocer and purveyor of basic household goods — and of Amazon as the seller of everything else — is being subtly challenged by the rise of the kaleidoscope consumer seeking savings and satisfaction across both marketplaces, often simultaneously.

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