Sam’s Club taps Weight Watchers to expand its membership benefits

This marks another expansion of Sam’s Club’s membership benefits as well as its work in the health and wellness sector. The free Weight Watchers subscription is the latest addition to Sam’s Club Plus, the retailer’s elevated membership program with additional benefits that first launched in 1999. Sam’s Club has added many new benefits to the program since 2024, including free same-day delivery on orders over $50 and on prescription medications, eyewear promotions, and $5 delivery in three hours or less.

Sam’s Club Plus typically costs $120 annually, while the standard club membership costs $60 per year — though both are currently discounted at $55 and $25 for the first year, respectively.

Meanwhile, the pharmacy business has been a key growth area for Sam’s Club. In 2025, the company launched free same-day prescription delivery for Sam’s Club Plus members, made improvements to its curbside pickup and launched a new pet insurance program.

“We know that our members are focused on healthier living, and this partnership helps us bring that to them in a more accessible and affordable way,” Myron Frazier, chief merchandising officer of Sam’s Club, told Modern Retail in an exclusive interview. “Consumer expectations around health and wellness are changing rapidly, and increasingly people want trusted and affordable solutions.”

Core+ includes personalized wellness support, food and nutrition recommendations, and access to virtual and in-person workshops. The Med+ program provides access to GLP-1 prescriptions through an affiliated medical group — excluding medication costs — as well as virtual clinician visits and support related to GLP-1 medications.

“This new collaboration between Weight Watchers and Sam’s Club opens up access to trusted wellness expertise, value and convenience to help members take meaningful steps toward their wellness goals, whether they are focused on nutrition, weight management, medication support or overall well-being,” said Scott Honken, chief commercial officer for Weight Watchers, in a statement provided by Sam’s Club.

The Sam’s Club and Weight Watchers partnership is not solely meant to cater to GLP-1 users, Frazier said, adding that it is centered around the increased importance of weight health to overall wellness.

“While these medications may be appropriate for some, for us, it’s really more about bringing together nutrition, behavioral support, health-food access and pharmacy services, and doing it with the community, because we know health journeys look different for every member,” Frazier said. “It’s not as much about any one medication as it is about providing access for that health journey for our members.”

Frazier said the Weight Watchers partnership strengthens Walmart’s pharmacy offerings by providing access to trusted wellness resources. In an interview with Modern Retail last year, Sherri Keeth, vp and divisional merchandise manager of health care and over-the-counter at Sam’s Club (who has since moved over to Walmart’s optical division), shared how the retailer is modernizing its pharmacy business and how important that segment is to its overall growth prospects.

“When our members are engaged in the health care space, … they renew at a higher rate, they shop more frequently, and they also tend to have a bigger overall basket,” Keeth said. “They’re just more engaged Sam’s Club members overall.”

Members also “tell us that they’re looking for healthier choices and greater transparency and products that support healthier lifestyles,” Frazier said, adding that these findings came out of feedback from members through the retailer’s Member’s Mark Community survey program. “That continues to influence not only our assortment, but the partnerships that we choose to enter.”

Walmart, for its part, has rapidly turned to third-party partnerships to add new perks to its Walmart+ membership, such as telehealth services through Pawp, Burger King discounts, and free subscriptions to streaming services such Paramount+ and Peacock. Frazier said Sam’s Club, is not actively pursuing partnerships, but that “it is an approach that we will take if it allows us to add more value to our members.”

“If there was another partnership that would work, we would, but I wouldn’t call it an intended strategic approach for us,” Frazier added.

Scott Benedict, founder and CEO of Benedict Enterprises and a former Walmart and Sam’s Club executive, said this reinforces the value of the Sam’s Club membership programs by tapping into broader consumer trends about weight loss and GLP-1 medications.

“You’re bolstering the overall value of membership, but you’re putting another layer of savings on there if you are a Plus member that bolsters that value equation of the Plus membership,” Benedict said. “Those members tend to be the most valuable, the most frequently shopping at the club or online. You pick out a KPI, and they are the far most valuable members, so adding that additional layer of savings very much makes sense.”

Beyond the Weight Watchers partnership, Sam’s Club has also sought to meet members’ health preferences by evolving its assortment.

Last year, Sam’s Club said 96% of its Member’s Mark private-label food and beverage products were now free of over 40 ingredients such as artificial colors and high-fructose corn syrup.

“About four years ago, as we were really early in our stages with the Member’s Mark community, one of the things we learned really quickly was that members were interested in foods that were cleaner, and there were certain ingredients that they just didn’t feel great about,” Frazier said.