Sam’s Club Debuts A High-Tech Store To Help Walmart Challenge Amazon Go

Walmart is revealing what the future of its stores could look like through a new R&D Sam’s Club location.

Photo courtesy of Sam’s Club

The “Sam’s Club Now” store, set to open in Dallas, Texas soon, will be a place where both the general public and nearby Sam’s Club corporate can test novel store technologies. Some of the tech being tested upon opening will include augmented reality experiences, shelf labels that instantly update prices, and on-demand navigation/wayfinding.

All of these will be incorporated and test via Sam’s Club’s Scan and Go function, which is useable via their app and already available nationwide. It works similar to Amazon Go’s model, with the only difference being you have to scan each item with your phone before adding it to your cart. An associate then checks you out of the store.

With these technologies, though, Sam’s Club could potentially challenge Amazon Go as the “store of the future” depending on how its programs turn out. This includes future tech like robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and others, all of which will be on display at the Sam’s Club Now store.

It will be interesting to see what advances in retail tech Sam’s Club and Walmart develop that make them stand out, or even potentially supercede, their mega-corporate rival.

Anyone can visit the Sam’s Club Now store in Dallas, but you have to be a member to make a purchase.