Sam's Club is quietly testing a new subscription service that allows customers to order items like diapers and printer cartridges online, a sign the Internet is beginnng to threaten areas of retail that were once considered relatively safe.
Called "My Subscriptions," the service mirrors Amazon.com AMZN +0.90% Inc.'s Subscribe & Save program, which was launched in 2007 and has given the Internet retailer a foothold in sales of basic consumer products. Sam's Club, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores WMT +0.56% Inc., is launching the service as Amazon prepares to move deeper into the business itself.
Until now, warehouse clubs like Sam's, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had been mostly insulated from the onslaught of online retailers like Amazon. Their main traffic drivers are fresh food, groceries and basic consumer products, which Amazon either didn't sell much of or sold at higher prices than the discount clubs.
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