Walmart CEO confirms new AI technology that will change checkouts forever – but will you want cameras prying into your cart?

There will be a change at the checkout at Sam’s Club stores aimed at speeding up wait times for shoppers, the boss of parent company Walmart has confirmed.

The membership-based warehouse store — Walmart’s version of Costco — allows customers to scan and pay for groceries with an app on their phone and just walk right out.

“At Sam’s Club US, we’re introducing new exit technology that allows our members to use a scan and simply walk out after completing their transaction on their phone,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in an earnings call last week.

They walk out through an airport-style scanner with AI cameras that analyze carts to ensure all items inside have been scanned and paid for via the phone app.

This means that an employee does not have to check the receipt at the exit and the member can simply leave the store.

Exits at Sam’s Club stores can become clogged during busy times, which is a major problem for members.

AI and computer vision in the exit area will capture images of customer carts and verify payment for all items in their shopping cart, the company said

The new technology is being tested in 10 stores in the US (photo: a location in Streamwood, Illinois)

The new scan-and-go system is is being tested at 10 Sam’s Club locations in the US and will be rolled out to all 600 stores by the end of 2024.

It is not yet clear whether the new feature will arrive at Walmart stores.

Sam’s Club, owned by Walmart, is a members-only warehouse chain that sells bulk merchandise, electronics and household goods, much like Costco.

The standard membership costs $50 per year, or the premium offering $110 per year – both $10 less than its rival.

The new payment technology is designed to make the shopping experience easier for customers using the retailer’s Scan & Go system.

To use Scan & Go, shoppers must download the Sam’s Club mobile app. They can then scan the product barcodes as they walk through the store, place the item in their shopping cart, and then pay for the items in the app when they’re done.

This allows them to bypass checkout and self-checkout lines, but as it stands now, shoppers will still have to show their digital receipt to a Sam’s Club employee before they can exit.

Under the new system, AI and computer vision in the exit area will capture images of customer carts and verify payment for all items in their shopping cart.

The technology also means that shoppers who have paid for their items at the till can also leave without their receipt being checked by an employee.

Sam’s Club is the first retailer to deploy this technology at scale, the company added.

In 2020, Amazon introduced its Amazon Go stores, which allow shoppers to simply leave a location and automatically charge their Amazon account for the items they took with them.

According to the retailer’s website, there are only 23 Amazon Go stores in the US.

“We are introducing new exit technology that allows our members to use scan and simply exit after completing their transaction on their phone, further enhancing their membership experience,” CEO Doug McMillon said in an earnings call last week.

The aim is to reduce lines in the club’s exit area, which can become clogged at busy times

It comes after Sam’s Club parent company Walmart announced last week that it would close 23 stores by 2023, including eight in Illinois.

In total, the total number of stores fell by 102, from 4,717 in January 2023 to 4,615 a year later.

That’s because, in addition to the 23 closures, Walmart sold a total of 79 Moosejaw and Bonobos locations following the sale of the two retailers.

The closures were revealed in company filings after it also announced that revenue rose 6 percent to $173 billion in the most recent quarter.

Walmart closed 23 stores in the US last year, including eight in Illinois. One Supercenter is expected to reopen as a neighborhood market in Atlanta, but will remain marked on the map

They come despite an announcement in January that the company would expand by more than 150 stores over the next five years.

Walmart spokespeople said the stores it closed were not generating enough sales or performing as well as expected.

“We have nearly 5,000 stores in the U.S. and unfortunately some are not meeting our financial expectations,” they said.

Costco and Sam’s Club have been rivals for 40 years.

Costco started in 1976 as Price Club and today has more than 800 locations around the world. Both warehouse clubs require a membership to shop there.

Sam’s Club was founded by Walmart in April 1983 to counter the success of Costco.