Stepping into the new Sam's Club Now, shoppers will notice lockers to safely charge their phones, a machine that dispenses free samples, and screens demonstrating the best way to make chocolate ganache.
There’s a station with fresh sushi and another display with grab-and-go meals. There’s a variety of produce, baked goods, meats and other grocery items for easy pickup.
But customers won't find the same giant jugs of cooking oil or four-packs of peanut butter they might be used to seeing at other Sam's Clubs.
Though the new store offers some bulk groceries, its new location in Dallas’ Lower Greenville neighborhood focuses more heavily on tech-savvy and innovative shopping experiences.
Sam’s Club Now is “the epicenter of innovation” for the retailer, the company said in October. At just 32,000 square feet – the average Sam’s encompasses 100,000 to 150,000 square feet – its merchandise mix includes between 1,000 and 2,000 products, compared to the roughly 6,000 products usually stocked in Sam’s Clubs.
Though the store employs 42 workers, none of them are cashiers. Instead, customers utilize the Sam’s Club Now app for the company’s Scan & Go feature, which allows them to scan items as they shop. The app also offers smart shopping lists that update as customers scan merchandise.
When they’re done shopping, customers pay through the app and have their phones scanned as they leave the store.
For help finding items, the app can also work with more than 400 beacons installed around the store to provide wayfinding tools that lead shoppers directly to what they want to buy.
And the company is piloting augmented reality in the store, letting customers use iPads that, when hovered over an item, will show new ways to use the product and give stories about its sourcing. Those same iPads can also be used to hover over shopping carts and turn them into pirate ships or rockets.
Other innovations at the store include electronic price tags that are connected to Wi-Fi, allowing them to be easily updated if prices change. And at the entrance is a welcome center where customers can use tablets to sign up for Sam’s memberships in minutes.
“(Our goal is) to learn as much as possible,” said Eddie Garcia, vice president of End-to-End Experience for Sam’s. “Our members are showing us different ways that they want to shop and achieve convenience and great savings. This is a great way to co-create with them the next-generation club experience.”
A Walmart Innovation Center being developed in downtown Dallas is working with Sam's Club, which is owned and operated by Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT), on the new features. It will also help the store continue to implement new ideas.
“With that center there, we got the idea of creating a retail space that’s also a technology lab,” Garcia added.
Proximity to the center, as well as a strong customer base in the area, led the company to build Sam’s Club Now in Dallas. The retailer has had a presence in the city since 1983.
But it does not yet have plans to open more of these clubs in or outside of North Texas.
The store had an invitation-only soft opening for members in the Lower Greenville area on Oct. 31, but will be open to the general public beginning today at 10 a.m.
read more adn see a slideshow at the Dallas Business Journal's website.
