Sam’s Club tests all-digital store

Walmart-owned Sam’s Club opened its first all-digital store in Grapevine, Dallas, with no checkout lanes. Customers use the Scan & Go app to purchase items as they shop. The Club will soon be available to the public.

The new store, its first opening in seven years, displays online-only items, including a 12-foot Christmas tree and a five-carat lab-grown diamond. QR codes are nearby for easy buying.

It also has a cafe that features a pizza-making robot that can make 100 pizzas an hour.

Why the move?
Sam’s Club says one in three members already use the Scan & Go app to checkout. It hopes to attract more millennials and Gen Z customers through its tech-forward store experience.

This digital shift highlights the retailer’s strategy to differentiate itself from rival Costco by focusing on technology, faster shopping experiences and e-commerce.

It has about the same number of US stores as Costco. However, the latter’s revenue doubled ($176.63 billion compared to Sam’s $86.2 billion) in the recent fiscal year.

Sam’s Club plans to open 30 new stores in the next five years. The company’s sales grew by 5.2% year-over-year in the latest quarter, with a 22% increase in e-commerce sales.