Walmart is trying to lure Amazon shoppers with a half-price membership ahead of Prime Day

• Walmart is offering half off the price of a Walmart+ membership until July 18.
• That timing gets ahead of Amazon's Prime Day , which happens on July 16 and 17.
• Walmart has been stepping up its effort to woo customers over from the e-commerce giant.

Walmart's members-only sales event is in the rearview, and Amazon's Prime Day isn't for another week, but that doesn't mean the war between the two biggest retailers is on pause.

Until July 18, Walmart is offering Walmart+ memberships for $49 a year, or half off the usual $98 fee.

If that date catches your eye, it's because the timing gets ahead of Amazon's Prime Day, which happens on July 16 and 17.

For 10 years now, Amazon's annual deals event for Prime members has become a fact of American retail life — and one that has helped drive new sign-ups for the company.

Offering a discounted membership in the days leading up to Prime Day is another way Walmart has been stepping up its effort to woo customers over from the e-commerce giant.

Look no further than remarks from Walmart's chief financial officer, John David Rainey, who said the company's delivery orders had overtaken in-store pickup orders in recent months.

He also said Walmart+ members were starting to make more frequent orders with fewer items — acting a little more like Amazon shoppers .

Meanwhile, Walmart has aggressively expanded its marketplace of third-party sellers , following a strategy that has enabled Amazon to offer a mind-boggling range of products on its website.

Walmart's "store of the future" upgrades are helping too, as the company uses its 4,700 US locations to fulfill online orders .

"You would expect the in-store benefit perhaps," Rainey said last month, referring to a sales increase after a renovation. "But we also see that there's an uplift in e-commerce sales in those areas where we've done a remodel."

Walmart is already making a lot of Target-style moves to win customers , and now it's taking even more pages from Amazon.