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Responding to the cashier-less concept store Amazon opened earlier this year, Walmart's subsidiary Sam's Club is opening a smart store of their own in Dallas, Texas. Instead of employing cashiers, Sam's Club Now will have "'Member Hosts,' who will act more like concierges." Purchases will be made through the Sam's club app, which will also have a map of the store and an "AI powered shopping list" that tries to guess what you want. The store is a quarter of the size of a regular Sam's Club warehouse, and is supposed to open next week.
More importantly, it will also include a new inventory management and tracking technology. Down the road, a system of over 700 cameras will be used to help the retailer manage the inventory and optimize the store layout. On the shelves, it's also testing electronic shelf labels that will instantly update prices, eliminating the need to print out paper signage. These are not third-party systems, the retailer says. "The vast majority of technologies that we're building here are technologies that we've developed in house. There may be pieces of modules of things that we're using from third parties. But the majority are systems that are building on the technology that we've developed here," said Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com and EVP of Membership & Technology. "That allows us to iterate and move pretty quickly with it," he noted. By "quickly," the retailer means things can change in a matter of weeks. The store plans to rapidly iterate on new and different experiences across computer vision, A.I., A.R., machine learning, and robotics. The winners will then be rolled out to other Sam's Club locations across the U.S.
More importantly, it will also include a new inventory management and tracking technology. Down the road, a system of over 700 cameras will be used to help the retailer manage the inventory and optimize the store layout. On the shelves, it's also testing electronic shelf labels that will instantly update prices, eliminating the need to print out paper signage. These are not third-party systems, the retailer says. "The vast majority of technologies that we're building here are technologies that we've developed in house. There may be pieces of modules of things that we're using from third parties. But the majority are systems that are building on the technology that we've developed here," said Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com and EVP of Membership & Technology. "That allows us to iterate and move pretty quickly with it," he noted. By "quickly," the retailer means things can change in a matter of weeks. The store plans to rapidly iterate on new and different experiences across computer vision, A.I., A.R., machine learning, and robotics. The winners will then be rolled out to other Sam's Club locations across the U.S.