Sam’s Club is testing a scan-and-ship option for shoppers
Shoppers stock up on merchandise at a Sam’s Club store on January 12, 2018 in Streamwood, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
For Sam’s Club shoppers, a trip to the store typically means lugging home big and often cumbersome items. A month’s supply of diapers. Lawn chairs. Large cartons of chicken broth or giant boxes of cereal.
The Walmart-owned membership club is flipping that on its head as it tests a new digital tool. Customers at select clubs can browse the aisles, retrieve items that fit in the car trunk and ship other purchases directly to the home. They can check out all purchases in a single transaction on their smartphones.
Sam’s Club CEO Kath McLay said the company sees technology as a way to improve the customer experience and build on its gains over the past year.
“We want to have great items. We want to have disruptive prices. And we want to make sure that we’re providing convenience to our members,” she told CNBC. “What we really learned through the pandemic was that we need to stay true to that strategy.”
During the health crisis, Sam’s Club rolled out curbside pickup to all its stores, as customers sought fast, contactless ways to pick up online purchases. The Scan & Ship service, announced Tuesday, is the latest way that Sam’s Club is using digital options to stand out from competitors. It will become a feature of Scan & Go, which allows customers to ring up purchases with a smartphone