Walmart-owned Sam’s Club has announced that it intends to increase its annual membership fee this fall given that the current fee is near a record level.
The company added that the fee will increase to $50 from $45 for some members, while the fee will increase from $100 to $110 for premium customers, and these decisions will come into effect starting from the seventeenth of October.
The increase is the first of its kind by the company in 9 years and the company has not raised the prices of its Plus membership since 1999.
Sam’s Club’s decision to increase annual fees comes following shoppers turned to Costco, BJ’s Wholesale and Sam’s Club during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic to buy jumbo packages of toilet paper, household cleaners and soup cans, while in recent months, shoppers have sought to mitigate inflation by searching For cheaper fuel and greater discounts on goods.
In the same context, inflation might increase the burden on consumers, and CEO Cath McClay commented that Sam’s Club “is aware of the financial pressures on portfolios at the moment.