Imagine a warehouse club without the lines of cashiers. In their place are high-priority promotional items. That’s the vision for Sam’s Club’s newest store. CNBC reports that “customers will have to use a smartphone app called Scan & Go to ring up their purchases as they walk through the aisles. In the area typically reserved for cash registers, the company will display online-only items as wide-ranging as a 12-foot Christmas tree and a five-carat lab-grown diamond. Members can scan QR codes and go straight to the items in the app.”
Store workers will have about four times more space for preparing customers’ e-commerce orders for curbside pickup and home delivery, CNBC reports.
“It’s kind of the physical manifestation of a journey we’re trying to go on as a company,” Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas said.
According to PYMNTS.com, the new store in Texas, reopening following a tornado almost two years ago, will serve as a testing ground for even more tech.
“The idea is that over time, we will be 100% digital engagement as a business, and you’ve got to prove that things work before you scale them,” Nicholas said, adding “it feels like what it’s like to shop in the future.”
Last month, Sam’s Club announced a revamp of frontline compensation. “At Sam’s Club, we believe delivering an unparalleled experience for our members starts with investing in our frontline associates,” said Chris Nicholas, president and CEO of Sam’s Club, in a LinkedIn post. “Until now, retail compensation has largely been about hourly wages, and it’s almost unheard of to talk about frontline associate compensation in terms of a predictable financial future—that changes for Sam’s Club starting today.”