Sam’s Club is piloting a new Scan & Ship feature that enables in-store shoppers to scan items for direct-to-home shipping. The tool is part of the store’s Scan & Go tool and is integrated within its smartphone app.
“We challenge ourselves every day to develop and execute convenient solutions that disrupt the warehouse model and provide additional value to our members,” Tim Simmons, senior vice president and chief product officer at Sam’s Club, said in a press release on Tuesday (July 13).
“Just like Scan & Go, Scan & Ship gives members greater control of their shopping experience,” Simmons added.
Scan & Ship enables in-store shoppers to scan big items like furniture and televisions and have them shipped, usually within three to five days. Sam’s Club members can also choose sizes and colors that might not be available in the store.
The new feature came from an internal program called Innovation Jam, said Vinod Bidarkoppa, senior vice president and chief technology officer at Sam’s Club. Innovation Jam gives employees an opportunity to brainstorm during a two-day “sprint-like event” to come up with new tech tools for retail.
The pilot for Scan & Ship is available at three locations, including Sam’s Club Now, an innovation lab based in Dallas, Texas.
The adoption of the Scan & Go surged 43.5 percent year over year in the first quarter of this year. The Sam’s Club app was downloaded 9.6 million times, according to the release, citing data from AppTopia. The company said it is “hyper-focused” on digital integration and mobile-first.
Founded in 1983, Sam’s Club is a division of Walmart and has close to 600 locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Scan & Go was introduced at all of Sam’s Club 518 gas stations last year after being available in-store since 2016. At the pumps, people can scan a QR code, choose a payment method, start pumping gas and get an emailed receipt.
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