BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Sam’s Club, a leading retailer, today announced significant progress in its rollout of technology that resolves a key member concern -- waiting in line for receipt verification to exit the club. The retailer’s first-of-its-kind application of artificial intelligence and computer vision technology has been successfully deployed in more than 120 clubs since first unveiling it at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.
Sam’s Club’s rapid deployment of its exit technology represents the largest-scale implementation of member-facing AI-powered technology in the retail industry. The retailer’s announcement of reaching the milestone of deploying at 20 percent of its clubs in the first quarter comes as other retailers have struggled to deploy similar technology at scale, with some abandoning efforts, just starting initial pilots, or have not shared plans to enhance customer experiences through checkout and store exit technologies.
This new technology has improved the experience for Sam’s Club members almost immediately upon deployment. In clubs where the technology has been deployed, more than half of members are getting the friction-free exit experience. This translates to all members leaving the club 23 percent faster.
Sam’s Club is uniquely positioned as the first retailer to not only extensively deploy this technology at scale, but also to successfully build, design and roll it out in-house, addressing member pain points in the purchase-to-exit process. Sam’s Club plans to deploy the exit technology to all of its clubs by the end of 2024.
The move to use technology innovation to drive a better member experience builds on Sam’s Club’s existing innovative digital solutions, such as Scan & Go which the company believes is the most used mobile application in a retailer and/or restaurant in the United States, to provide members with a more convenient shopping experience and differentiate itself as the retail industry’s innovation leader.
"I’m incredibly proud of the innovation and dedication of our team to deploy this member experience technology at scale," said Todd Garner, Chief Product Officer at Sam’s Club. "Both exit technology and Scan & Go are driving new levels of convenience and raising member satisfaction among members. What distinguishes Sam’s Club from our competitors is our ability to seamlessly deploy this technology at scale across our nearly 600 clubs nationwide. Whether it's a single item or a cartful, we're revolutionizing the checkout experience."
Deploying Exit Technology at Scale
Sam’s Club’s exit technology is used to seamlessly confirm members have paid for all items in their shopping carts – without requiring an associate to check members’ purchases before leaving the club. Before this technology, members were slowed by queuing at the club’s exit area to have member specialists review receipts and examine items in a member’s cart.
Members said they want a faster and more convenient shopping experience and consistently rated the potentially lengthy wait times at exit - especially during busy periods - as a primary pain point in their shopping experience.
Now after a member completes payment at a register or via Scan & Go, a combination of computer vision and digital technology deployed in the exit area of the club captures images of carts and verifies payment for all items within a member’s basket. With AI working in the background to continually speed the process, this digital innovation not only streamlines the member’s exit, but also allows member specialists to refocus their time and expertise to assisting members and ensuring they have an enjoyable shopping experience.
With AI constantly learning and improving across thousands of exit transactions at multiple locations, Sam’s Club said it will continue iterating and enhancing the technology as the deployment rollout continues.
Sam’s Club’s technology at exit is a natural extension of its use of digital techniques to enhance the shopping experience through Scan & Go, which allows members to use their mobile Sam’s Club app to capture purchases on-the-go and bypass the traditional checkout line in the club – and also use that same mobile technology at the fuel station and Café.
