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(by Michael Dorgan, Fox Business) – Sam’s Club, the Walmart-owned membership warehouse, is rolling out a major change to its grocery payment system and embracing artificial intelligence (AI).
The retail giant plans to phase out traditional checkouts across its 600 stores and create a friction-free shopping experience which will include customers scanning goods on the go with an app and then having an AI scanner verify the goods as customers leave. The technology would eliminate the need for receipt checks at the door.
The system, known as “Scan & Go,” was initially launched in April 2016 and allows members to use the Sam’s Club mobile app to scan their products.
The latest announcement adds the AI check, known as “Just Go,” to the process and will see the option of traditional checkouts being eliminated. The new checkout tech was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2024.
The new plans were announced by Chris Nicholas, Sam’s Club president and CEO…last week.
“This is one of the fastest, most scalable transformations happening in retail today,” Nicholas said. “We’re investing with intention — in our fleet, our associates and the member experience — to become the world’s best club retailer.”
The company said its newly opened store in Grapevine, Texas, already has the “Just Go” system in place and that store will be “setting the standard” for the club for the future. The new store is designed to make shopping faster, smoother and more enjoyable.
That store is also designed with AI in mind to create a better work environment for workers with upgrades like a vertical tire carousel, automated forklifts and a pizza robot in the café.
“It’s a place where human-centered design and technology meet convenience and discovery, offering a glimpse into the future of retail,” the company wrote in a December press release.
Walmart, meanwhile, is in the middle of experimenting with AI technology and monitoring the risks and benefits.
Costco, the company’s main rival, is taking the opposite approach and sticking with traditional checkout lanes only.
Sam’s Club said its 100,000 associates remain central to the company’s momentum.
The company said that the adoption of AI tools to streamline repetitive tasks has improved both operational efficiency and associate engagement, while there have also been investments in wages and career progression opportunities.
Sam’s Club said that the new technology will allow more time to enhance the member experience.
[Newsweek reports: An analysis of the Sam’s Club app by Business Insider found that while “Scan & Go” has the advantage of cutting long waits at the checkout, the app may glitch and slow down the shopping experience. Additionally, weighed produce and alcohol must be bought separately].“When a member [customer] has a meaningful, positive interaction with an associate, they’re more likely to renew — and stay loyal,” Nicholas said. “We’re building a culture that supports our associates as much as our members, because that’s how we win.”
Published at FoxBusiness on April 19. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.
Questions
1. How will Sam’s Club new “Just Go” program work?
2. How will the Just Go program affect traditional checkout lanes?
3. What is the goal for the Sam’s Club company?
4. What is the goal for customers? and for Sam’s employees?
5. Either shoppers will love “Just Go” – or have concerns that they won’t have a choice of how to shop or pay, including those who still prefer to pay cash for their purchases, or older shoppers who are not tech savvy enough – or people who just don’t like to use the app.
Consider the reader comments below. What do you think?
a) Is there a legitimate concern that this will be difficult for senior citizens or others?
b) Should Americans always have the option to pay cash when making a purchase?
c) What might be some unintended consequences?
- “It uses a network of cameras to track shoppers and their carts and requires all shoppers to use a smartphone and download the Sam’s app.”
- “I have been using “scan and go” for literally 6 or 7 years at Sam’s. This isn’t new. It is the most convenient thing about shopping there.”
- “People complaining about it have never tried it. I have no clue why you would be so against it. You just scan the item when you put it in your cart, and then you leave when you’re done. It saves you tons of time.”
- “I love it. I scan all my stuff. Skip the line and just have my phone out and a walk right under the scanner and out the door. I went with a friend to Costco and that’s a fiasco. They look at you like your convict when you walk in and then Check out is a nightmare.”
- “I only use cash, so bye-bye Sam’s.”
- “Time you moved with the times, soon you won’t be able to get your groceries, so sad.”
- “My Sam’s has scan and go but I haven’t used it yet as I haven’t felt the need. I’ve talked to one person who loves it. While if I tried it, maybe I would, too. I hesitate for two reasons. Adds to the movement to cashless retail which tracks everything you buy as well as tracking your movements by the purchases you make. This also requires you to own and use a smartphone with an app for the store. Don’t have your phone or the battery dies and you are out of luck to even buy a new smartphone.”
- “I’ve been using scan and go at Sam’s for a few months and it’s the absolute best thing ever! It’s fast, convenient, and very easy to use.”
- “Such technology always comes with tradeoffs with Big Brother. They’re not just capturing transactions. They’re capturing biometrics and behavior, then tying all that to your payment card, which already has other associations the system is tracking and storing in a big database.”
- “They already know pretty much everything about each one of us…. so another checkout won’t make much difference.”
- “Because you’re scanning via the app, they will soon sell that data to health insurance companies and determine your diet is risky and therefore charge you higher premiums. I 100% smell a rat…”
6. The first Apple iPhone was released in 2007. Smartphones became more widely used by 2013.
There was a time when people were concerned with their privacy and opposed red-light cameras, speeding cameras, surveillance cameras at government buildings, schools, etc. as well as in shopping malls and grocery stores. They didn’t like their purchases being tracked – or their internet search habits to be monitored. (Others would say “I don’t do anything wrong – who cares if ‘they’ track me.”)
Ask a parent, and a grandparent what they think about Sam’s new ‘convenient’ way of shopping. Does it differ from your point of view?
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