Omnichannel
Sam's Club product chief: Members are at the heart of every decision
Sam’s Club interim Chief Product Officer Todd Garner shares how the wholesaler is transforming the customer journey and why members are front and center with all decision making.
July 9, 2024 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
Consumers want personalization, convenience and a seamless retail experience no matter where they may be shopping – whether it'd be a mall, a brand store or online — and online could mean anything from an omnichannel store website to a TikTok shopping opportunity.
For all those reasons Sam's Club has been busy embracing robotics, machine learning and AI. It's all about reducing member pain points for the wholesaler and enhancing the customer experience.
The multi-pronged strategy involves everything from making checkout easier and faster to getting personal with shopping recommendations. Here's a quick look at CX strategies:
- Utilizing computer vision, Sam's Club's exit tech verifies payments and eliminates waiting times at the exit. Addressing members' concerns surrounding checkout lines and store exits, Sam's Club is now further streamlining the exit process to reduce waiting times across all locations.
- Responding to member feedback around the manual process to order cake being a hassle, Sam's Club's new system now allows members to customize cakes, add them to their cart, schedule pickup and complete their entire shopping trip in one transaction.
- Sam's Club has created a range of apps to give in-club associates easy access to important data. MyClub streamlines their tasks, Own Your Inventory automates inventory management and the Fresh app assists with food preparation. Ask Sam, a digital assistant, answers numerous questions weekly, helping associates and members alike.
Those efforts are not about deploying tech for tech's sake, according to Sam's Club Chief Product Officer Todd Garner.
RetailCustomerExperience.com reached out to Garner in an email interview to get deeper insight on the tech efforts and customer experience strategy and why his team of product developers, data scientists, programmers and engineers are all focused on convenience and connection for Sam's Club members.
Q. What prompted the tech initiative (the prime pain point) and how long has it been in development?
Garner: At Sam's Club, our members are at the heart of every decision. We thrive on being the leader in convenience to delight our members. We care about every second a member spends with us, so saving them even a few seconds is well worth it to make a delightful experience.
A key member concern was waiting in line, whether to check out or for receipt verification to exit the club. The seamless exit delivers new levels of convenience by leveraging a first of its kind application of artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to eliminate queuing at the club's exit area. Others have tried, but we were the first to make it happen at scale. It's all about taking the pain points away from our members by focusing technology on their needs for the convenience and connection they expect at Sam's Club.
We're fortunate to have some of the brightest minds in tech working for us to integrate robotics and AI/ML into our omnichannel experiences. Through their work we were able to develop seamless tech from concept to pilot in about a year.
Q. Given it's not deploy tech for tech sake, how did you identify where to deploy innovative tech — you mention customer feedback —did that play a role?
Garner: Yes, every innovation is implemented by actively listening to member feedback, with the aim of improving the lives of our members and associates, and creating convenient, connected, and delightful shopping experiences.
Members are at the heart of every decision we make, and our goal is to place their needs front and center to create a stellar shopping experience every time they are at a club.
Q. What will the tech provide to staff associates —is there an example of how it changes their role or task load —something that used to be manual that is now automated?
Garner: It uplevels the opportunity for connection with our members, which uplevels member's experiences at the club. Member specialists at the exit are now able to interact and engage with members throughout all areas of the club. For example, they are able to assist members who have questions or help members use Scan & Go. Our associates at pilot locations have shared they enjoy being able to engage more with our members. Check out this associate story.
Q. Can you explain the 'cake' tech in more detail —is it through the app and online and was this in response to customer feedback about cake ordering processes?
Garner: Members can now conveniently place digital cake orders through the Sam's Club app and online, all in one transaction with their other items. This innovative solution not only resolves a significant member pain point but also addresses the shared feedback of having to manually order cakes in-person.
Q. Why is customer experience such a top focal point for Sam's Club?
Garner: We care about our members and want to make their lives more convenient and see the deployment of these tech innovations as supporting our goal.
We listen to our members, and they tell us what kind of shopping experience keeps them coming back to Sam's Club. They have a deep emotional connection to our business, and we thrive when we listen to members, place their needs front and center and elevate the shopping experience at Sam's Club.
About Judy Mottl
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