At Sam’s Club, our members are at the heart of every decision. We care about every second a member spends with us, so saving them even a few seconds is well worth it if we can make their experience more delightful.
That’s why we’re excited about our latest technology advancement that will resolve a key member concern: waiting in line for receipt verification to exit the club. The new tech announced at CES will deliver new levels of convenience by leveraging a first-of-its-kind application of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision technology to eliminate queuing at the club’s exit area. The move to use digital solutions to drive a better member experience builds on Sam’s Club’s existing technologies, such as Scan & Go™, to provide members with a more convenient shopping experience and differentiate Sam’s Club as a segment innovator.
“This is Sam’s Club at its very best, listening to feedback from members, putting their needs at the center of everything we do – and then applying digital innovations to deliver an industry-leading member experience,” said Chris Nicholas, CEO of Sam’s Club. “We are constantly looking at ways for Sam’s Club to be the most convenient membership club and will continue to prioritize using technology to provide a truly differentiated and delightful experience for our members.”
Currently running pilots across 10 Sam’s Club locations, the technology is used to seamlessly confirm members have paid for all items in their shopping carts – without requiring an associate to check members’ purchases before leaving the club. Before this technology, members were slowed by queuing at the club’s exit area to have Sam’s Club exit greeters review receipts. Members continue to say they want a faster and more convenient shopping experience and consistently rated the wait times at the exit – especially during busy periods – as a pain point in the shopping experience.
Now, after a member completes payment at a register or via Scan & Go, a combination of computer vision and digital technology deployed in the exit area of the club captures images of carts and verifies payment for all items within a member’s basket. With AI working in the background to continually speed the process, this digital innovation not only streamlines the member’s exit, but also allows exit greeters to refocus their time and expertise to assisting members and ensuring they have an enjoyable shopping experience.
More than half of members at the pilot locations are already seeing the benefits of the new experience. With AI constantly learning and improving across any of Sam’s Club’s thousands of items and exit transactions at multiple locations, the company said it will continue iterating and enhancing the technology through early 2024, intending to rapidly expand it to its nearly 600 clubs by the end of the year.
Sam’s Club is the first retailer to deploy this technology at exit and at scale, a natural extension of how the club uses digital innovation to enhance the shopping experience through Scan & Go. Scan & Go allows members to use the Sam’s Club mobile app to capture purchases on-the-go and bypass the traditional checkout line in the club, as well as at the fuel station and Café.
About Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club®, a division of Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), is a leading membership warehouse club offering superior products, savings and services to millions of members in nearly 600 clubs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Now in its 40th year, Sam’s Club continues to redefine warehouse shopping with its highly curated assortment of high-quality fresh food and Member’s Mark® items, in addition to market leading technologies and services like Scan & Go™️, Curbside Pickup and home delivery service in select markets. To learn more about Sam's Club, visit the Sam's Club Newsroom, shop at SamsClub.com and interact with Sam's Club on LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
