Sam’s Club Prepares to Open First All-Digital Store

Sam’s Club is reportedly preparing to launch its first store without checkout lanes.

Scheduled to open in the middle of this month in Texas, the store will require customers to use an app called Scan & Go to ring up items on their smartphones as they shop, CNBC reported Monday (Oct. 7).

Where most stores would have cash registers, the report adds, the Walmart-owned club retailer will instead display online-only items such as giant Christmas trees and diamonds. Workers, meanwhile, will have around four times as much space to ready eCommerce orders for curbside pickup and home delivery.

“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 told CNBC.

The CNBC report argues that Sam’s Club has become the more “tech savvy” arm of Walmart, launching innovations now used by its parents, like Scan & Go.

Earlier this year, the company began using artificial intelligence (AI)-powered checkout technology at its stores.

“Using a combination of AI, computer vision and digital tech, Sam’s Club’s system identifies what’s in a shopping cart, confirming customers have paid for their items without requiring an associate to check their purchases before leaving the store,” PYMNTS wrote in May.

The new store in Texas, reopening following a tornado almost two years ago, will serve as a testing ground for even more tech, Nicholas said.

“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,” he said, adding that he hopes “it feels like what it’s like to shop in the future.”

Sam’s Club’s digital store, along with recently reported cashierless McDonald’s locations, are happening at a time when unattended payments technologies are “increasingly becoming indispensable in today’s fast-paced retail environment,” as PYMNTS wrote this summer.

Ellie Smith, global head of digital acceptance at Discover Global Network, cited a confluence of factors driving this trend in May interview with PYMNTS in May.

Smith stressed the role of technological advancements and the rising demand from consumers for self-service solutions in allowing more secure and seamless unattended transactions.

“[You] have the payment technology providers and merchants who benefit both from speed and managing their employee base,” Smith said, ultimately leading to a unique, “win-win situation” bringing about rapid advancements in the unattended arena.