Walmart-owned Sam’s Club Opens First All-Digital Store, Pioneering Future of Retail

Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart, has opened its first all-digital store, showcasing a glimpse into the future of retail. The new store, located in Dallas, Texas, features a unique shopping experience that eliminates traditional checkout lanes and encourages customers to use their smartphones for purchases.

Upon entering the store, members will use the Scan & Go app to scan items as they shop, adding them to their virtual cart. The area typically reserved for cash registers will instead showcase online-only items, such as a 12-foot Christmas tree and a five-carat lab-grown diamond. Members can scan QR codes to locate these items directly.

Store workers will have significantly more space dedicated to preparing e-commerce orders for curbside pickup and home delivery. This focus on e-commerce reflects Sam’s Club’s commitment to digital innovation and its goal of becoming a 100% digital engagement business.

“It’s kind of the physical manifestation of a journey we’re trying to go on as a company,” Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas said, as he showed off the club before its grand opening.

The Dallas-area store reopening comes nearly two years after it was damaged by a tornado. Sam’s Club is leveraging this opportunity to introduce innovative features and explore the possibilities of digital-first retail.

Nicholas said upon its reopening, the location will become a testing ground for Sam’s Club’s newest features and emerging technology.

“The idea is that over time, we will be 100% digital engagement as a business, and you’ve got to prove that things work before you scale them,” he said.

He added that he hopes “it feels like what it’s like to shop in the future.”