EXCLUSIVE: Sam's Club, the Walmart-owned membership warehouse, is opening its largest innovation store, offering an entirely digital experience and boasting more displays as soon as customers enter.
This 150,000-square-foot innovation hub, which will open in Grapevine, Texas, on Thursday, will serve as the model that Sam's will use when opening future stores, according to the company. This means it will deploy any successful features in future clubs.
The company is already on track to open 30 in the next five years, CEO Chris Nicholas told FOX Business.
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"In the next five years we are back in the game of opening clubs, which is really exciting. We'll definitely open 30 in the next five years, but that won't be where we stop," Nicholas said, adding that the last club opening was in 2017.
For the first time, Sam's is testing out a fully digital checkout experience. Unlike its other clubs, which give customers the option to check out at a register or with their app, the Grapevine hub will not have a register option.
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Customers will have to use the company's Scan & Go mobile checkout, a tactic aimed at boosting digital engagement among members. Currently, one-third of all members use Scan & Go, according to Sam's Club.
The company also added more exit arches at the front of the club. The arches, which are available in over 300 clubs, use artificial intelligence and computer vision to scan a customer's cart rather than having them wait in line for receipt verification to exit the club. These arches are slated to roll out to all of its stores by the end of the year.
According to the company, the membership warehouse will have a more open floor plan and additional displays, including a showroom for its online-only assortment, so members can see the items before purchasing.
It also more than doubled the number of its Club Pickup parking spots as it expands its store fulfillment capabilities.
The Grapevine location will have 6,000 square feet of additional space for Club Pickup and Delivery from Club order fulfillment, which is about four times the standard fulfillment space.
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The club will also have more interactive elements in its food department, such as a section where sushi chefs cook in front of customers.
Its services like optical and pharmacy have more prominent placement in the club and are grouped together, the company said.
