WHAT TO REMEMBER
- Sam’s Club: a model redefined thanks to omnichannel innovation and experiences such as Scan & Go™ or exit technology ‘Just Go”, popular with current members and younger generations
- Forty years of innovation and iteration, driven by listening to members and employees.
- These end-of-year holidays will be the first to integrate a full range of AI tools, for members and frontline employees.
The NRF chose Paris to inaugurate its European edition NRF Big Show Europe – and hit hard by bringing together some of the most visionary leaders in global Retail. Among them, Diana MarshallEVP & Chief Experience Officer at Sam’s Club, visibly delighted to be in the capital: “I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t excited by the backdrop, Paris”.
Interviewed by another key figure in the sector, Jason Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, she covered all the key topics, from the latest advances in AI to the importance of human experience in the future, especially in the retail sector.
📊Sam’s ClubWalmart’s warehouse brand: $90 billion, 600 clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100,000 employees. Chris Nicholas President and CEO, Sam’s Club
Diana Marshall (after 18 years at Walmart, now 2.5 years at Sam’s) fills a newly created position at Sam’s Club: Chief Experience Officer. She leads all experiences at this membership-based brand, which has a unique opportunity to truly stand out through experience.
His position covers the following areas: Membership, Product & Design, Marketing & Personalization, MAP (retail media business), and Data & Business Insights. All of these areas are focused on innovation to ensure that every interaction between members and employees is meaningful and useful.
Its mission
To describe her mission, Diana spoke of hospitality: “ Hospitality is a feeling, not a function ”, and recalled what Mr. Sam (as Mr. Sam Walton, the founder, is called internally) had once said: “ How a customer feels when they leave determines how quickly they will return. »
The latest advances
Speaking of innovations, Diana Marshall and Jason Goldberg discussed those that have been implemented in recent years at Sam’s Club (founded in 1983 by Sam Walton as an experiment). . Among these:
- Member’s Mark™ : the (unique) private label of Sam’s Club ( ≃ 50% of product sales growth over the past two years) is supported by a community of 50,000 members who test products, provide feedback and help the warehouse club design new products.
- Scan & Go™ (launched 9 years ago): this mobile self-checkout system, created to eliminate the inconvenience of queues, is now extended to cafes and gas stations. Do users like it? The NPS is above 90.
- Spring 2024: launch of Exit Arches (AI + computer vision replaces manual receipt checks → frictionless checkout.
To eliminate stopping at the door to go through the process of checking and reviewing receipts, Sam’s Club has created Exit Arches : The customer simply walks through the exit arches and Sam’s Club uses computer vision to compare the items in the cart to the receipt and sends the information to the employee at the exit in real time. The whole process only takes a few seconds, so the customer can simply continue walking out. To find out more
“ This improved our experience and also helped us a lot from a customer satisfaction point of view. We see NPS 90 continue to climb because this process is very simple, saves customers time, and leverages technology to deliver a better experience “.
- Retail Media : As Jason Goldberg described the potential insights gained on these buying journeys, Diana confirmed that Scan Scan & Go™ Display was launched in July 2024, becoming the first and only Retail Media platform to integrate advertisements into a self-checkout mobile application.
- AI & Members & In-store Employees
Sam’s Club has long used AI with one goal: to better serve its members. For example, nearly 200 million tasks have been automated, enabling frontline employees to “ interact and chat with customers, help them find items and truly improve their experience “.
Improving employee skills : the warehouse club has just given its frontline employees access to Chat GPT to help them improve their knowledge. “ This will help them complete their tasks faster (…), think and react differently, have new ideas, but also act faster so they can really focus on what matters most and what only humans can do, which is interact.”
Jason Goldberg had the opportunity to test the new AI experience for employees and gave his thoughts: “ One of the aspects I like the most is that it’s not just a generic response engine. He has been trained with all the knowledge and expertise inherited from Sam’s operations and all the products you offer. So it’s sort of a tailor-made language model for Sam’s and for retail.”.
Agentic shopping: Sam’s Club is taking a close interest in Sparky, the AI agent that Walmart has deployed on its application in the United States, which synthesizes reviews, offers recommendations based on occasions and helps customers plan, compare and make their purchases. “ How to fix that leaking faucet? » turns into a step-by-step guide with the appropriate tools ordered for same-day delivery. “ I need ideas for throwing a party ! » triggers a complete event planning session — theme, decorations, food and gifts — all highly personalized and coordinated on budget.
Retail Vision
Asked about her vision for retail, the manager stressed the importance of joy and the human dimension, even going so far as to create “Joy Pins” to reward employees who offer memorable experiences.
“ We’re excited to think not only about how we can make things easier through technology, but also how we can leverage empathy, human experience and behavior to stand out and create moments of joy that people will remember. (….). And it can be a small thing.”
The end-of-year holidays as a tipping point
For Diana Marshall, the holiday season will represent a decisive moment in the adoption of artificial intelligence: “ The holiday season will mark a sea change in the way people shop. »
In conclusion, Jason Goldberg wanted to share his enthusiasm with the audience: “ If you’re planning a trip to the United States, maybe skip Disneyland this year and head to a Sam’s Club instead. An incredible experience! »
