BENTONVILLE, AR - Sam’s Club took a customer pain point and immediately got to work. When shoppers tired of waiting in line for receipt verification to exit the club, the retailer deployed a first-of-its-kind application of artificial intelligence and computer vision technology. Since its launch in January, this program is now successfully running in 120 clubs.
"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. "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."
As we reported last time, Sam’s Club was eager to solve this issue for shoppers and maintain its commitment to convenience. And it did so rather quickly, as the retailer claims in a release that this rapid deployment of the exit technology is the largest-scale implementation of member-facing AI-powered technology in the retail industry.
The response from shoppers thus far has been positive. In clubs where the technology has been deployed, more than half of the members report a friction-free experience. This translates to all members leaving the club 23 percent faster.
Sam’s Club plans to deploy the exit technology to all of its clubs by the end of 2024.
It’s the little things that add up to a better customer experience. Time saved getting out the door faster could translate into shoppers feeling less rushed—which opens the door to other possibilities. Where could their eyes turn to if their minds were a little more free to spend time thinking over products and not getting home? We can only hope they will turn to produce.
What pain points could we be solving? It’s something to ponder this morning!
