Sam’s Club is opening a store in the Dallas area and asking customers to go all digital. Shoppers will use smartphone apps to scan and pay for their purchases instead of standing at a checkout counter.
Sam’s Club
Grapevine, Texas — When shoppers walk into Sam’s Club’s newest store, they’ll quickly see a shiny blue Mercedes-Benz SUV, a sectional sofa and zero checkout lanes.
welcome to Walmart– the first fully digital store with a members club – and a preview of its future.
At the club, which will open in mid-October, customers will have to use a smartphone app called Scan & Go to record their purchases as they walk through the aisles. In an area usually reserved for cash registers, the company will display items sold only online, ranging from a 12-foot-tall Christmas tree to a 5-carat lab-grown diamond. Members can scan QR code and go directly to the item in the app.
Sam’s Club executives said store staff will have about four times the space to prepare customers’ e-commerce orders for curbside pickup and home delivery.
“This is a physical manifestation of the journey we’re trying to continue as a company,” Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas said as he showed off the club ahead of its grand opening.
The online-only items will be on display at new Sam’s Club stores in the Dallas area. These items range from a 12-foot-tall Christmas tree to a sectional Christmas tree for the living room. There will be a QR code near each product that shoppers can scan to get more information or make a purchase.
Sam’s Club
Since Walmart founder Sam Walton opened the first Sam’s Club in 1983, the members-only club has become a more tech-savvy arm of its retail giant parent company. The club launched several key innovations that are now being used by its parent company, such as Scan & Go. It’s also using digital products to try to outdo its biggest rivals, costco.
Sam’s Club is doubling down on that strategy at this Dallas-area store, which is reopening nearly two years after being damaged by a tornado.
Nicholas said that when it reopens, the store will be a testing ground for Sam’s Club’s latest features and emerging technologies.
“The idea is that over time we as a business will get to 100% digital engagement and have to prove things work before we can scale,” he said.
He added that he wanted “to feel like what shopping will feel like in the future.”
Compete with Costco
Peter Keith, senior research analyst at Piper Sandler, said Costco has long been the “king of warehouse club channels.” But he said Sam’s Club has added features to “upgrade the shopping experience,” such as introducing a permanent station in some clubs where chefs make sushi rolls in front of customers.
Notably, Sam’s Club differentiates itself by embracing e-commerce offerings and attracting customers looking for easier and faster ways to shop, such as Scan & Go.
“It really takes away the most painful part of these membership clubs, which is the long checkout lines,” he said.
Sam’s Club and Costco have about the same number of clubs in the U.S., but Costco’s annual revenue is about twice as much. Sam’s Club net sales totaled $86.2 billion in its most recent fiscal year, while Costco’s U.S. stores had net sales of $176.63 billion.
Sam’s Club has made several other key moves to catch up with Costco: It’s integrating private-label brands More than 20 different brands Becomes a: member mark. It reduces the number of unique items for sale and therefore focuses on proven and popular items. It recently announced that it will Increase average hourly wages Serving nearly 100,000 employees just before the holidays.
Sam’s Club also opened The Clubhouse in August, a roughly 37,000-square-foot office building across from the retailer’s headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. It includes tools such as studio and whiteboards, arts and crafts supplies, and cardboard mockups, will help retailers come up with new ideas, test products and work with cross-department teams on projects.
It is in the process of active expansion, There are plans to open about 30 new clubs within five years.
Sam’s Club’s U.S. comparable sales, a measure that includes sales at stores and clubs opened in the past 12 months, rose 5.2% in the latest quarter ended July 31 compared with the same period a year ago. Among them, e-commerce increased by 22% annually.
The Dallas-area club will have 6,000 square feet to fulfill e-commerce orders — an increase from other clubs’ average of about 1,500 square feet. It will also feature cooling panels where store staff can store totes of frozen and refrigerated items.
Sam’s Club
Nicholas said new clubs, including the one opening in Grapevine, will also be designed to better handle higher traffic.
For example, the club’s cafe will be equipped with a pizza robot capable of making up to 100 pizzas in an hour. It will also test a new system to deliver food orders to designated cubicles after customers order via Scan & Go.
digital age
Like its parent company, Walmart, Sam’s Club has always Attract customers from a wider income range and age, as it focuses on providing convenient ways to shop. About half of new members who joined Sam’s Club in the most recent quarter were Millennials or Generation Z, According to the company.
According to Sam’s Club, one-third of members currently use Scan & Go when shopping at the club. It recently launched new exit technology that automatically checks customers’ shopping carts and allows them to exit the club without employees looking at receipts or reviewing their carts. Shoppers walk through an archway powered by computer vision and artificial intelligence. The system functions like Amazon’s In addition to some physical stores of the e-commerce giant, Just Walk Out technology is also starting to be used in event venues.
But Nicholas acknowledges that some shoppers may be reluctant to embrace new technology or habits.
Tiffany Zuniga, a mom and Lyft driver who lives in the Dallas area, said she’s eager to return to Sam’s Club but is wary of the new technology. Zuniga used to go to the club to buy supplies for simple family dinners or church events, but when Sam’s Club closed due to tornado damage, he went to Costco instead.
She has never used Scan & Go and said she hopes the new technology doesn’t come at the expense of customer service.
“Sometimes it can be a little risky if you scan incorrectly or need help,” she said. “Hopefully they have enough staff on hand.”
As construction crews at Grapevine’s Sam’s Club completed construction, the retailer posted signs at nearby Sam’s Club gas stations and car washes to educate customers on how to prepare for the club’s return and encourage them to download Scan & Go.
When customers walk into the newly reopened club, staff will be ready to help them download the app or follow them through their purchase if they need help learning how to use the app.
Nicholas said there will be no change in the number of Grapevine store employees, but some will take on new roles.
