If you thought Amazon Go convenience stores were futuristic, think again! Physical checkout lanes will cease to exist at in at least one Sam’s Club starting as early as mid-October. That’s right, in just a few short weeks, the very first cashier-less Sam’s Club warehouse will be open for business in the Dallas area.
Company executives claim the technology-first store model will streamline the overall customer shopping experience while also allowing Sam’s Club employees to fulfill online orders more quickly and efficiently, per CNBC. But what does this really mean for Sam’s Club members? Evidently, no more long checkout lines—or human interaction, for that matter.
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The checkout lane overhaul means Sam’s Club members will now utilize the Scan & Go app to ring up products and pay.
In case you aren’t familiar with the smartphone app, here’s a quick refresher: Upon scanning an item’s barcode (say, on boxed cereal, for example), the app tells you its price, plus whether it’s on sale or can be used in conjunction with any coupons or storewide promotions. The app keeps a detailed record of everything in your cart. When you’re ready to “check out,” toggle over to the payment window to complete your purchase. Voilà!
It probably goes without saying that the full-time Scan & Go rollout will make participating Sam’s Club stores cashless. Additionally, self-checkout will also be a thing of the past, presumably.
Without a designated checkout station, Sam’s Club employees will now have up to four times more floor space to organize and complete online orders for curbside pickup and home delivery, as reported by CNBC.
Any remaining real estate will be allocated to displaying much larger, pricier purchases, including sectional couches, seasonal decor, cars (yep, you read that right), and even high-end jewelry. Merchandise in this designated area will only be available to buy online via QR codes displayed in-store.
This high-technology renovation signals a new chapter for the Walmart-owned company, hinted Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas.
“It’s kind of the physical manifestation of a journey we’re trying to go on as a company,” he said ahead of the warehouse’s grand opening.
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The Dallas store will also become a “testing ground” for forthcoming technological advancements and potential changes.
“The idea is that over time, we will be 100 [percent] digital engagement as a business, and you’ve got to prove that things work before you scale them,” he said.
The goal, according to Nicholas, is for Sam’s Club to feel “what it’s like to shop in the future.”
The Scan & Go app isn’t a new feature, having first launched in 2016. While many members use the app to bypass long lines at checkout, several say the app is, at times, “pointless” because of the receipt verification checkpoints.
All shoppers are required to show proof of purchase via a physical receipt or QR code before exiting Sam’s Club. Often, these lines are just as long or longer than the lines at checkout.
“Scan and Go is pointless cause we can’t just Go!” cried one TikToker in the comments section of a video depicting just how long it takes to get through the receipt-checking process.