Sam’s Club is the latest retail chain to allow outside brands to advertise to its shoppers while in store.
This July, the Walmart-owned club store announced it will expand its retail media platform MAP to Sam’s Club’s mobile checkout app feature Scan and Go.
With Scan and Go, shoppers can use their app to scan products, add the products to their cart and pay for them, without going to a physical checkout lane. A third of Sam’s Club shoppers regularly use Scan and Go, according to the retailer.
Now, for members that opt in, after each scan, an ad will appear on the shopping cart page. For example, for a shopper that scans spinach, an ad for salad dressing might appear. The ad will refresh with each new scan.
This will allow shoppers to discover new products, and advertisers to reach shoppers when they are actually shopping, Sam’s Club said in the release announcing the feature. The ads may help drive incremental sales of associated or halo products, according to the retailer.
“This new capability reflects our member obsession and commitment to ensuring ads reach the right members at the right time in their shopping journeys,” said Diana Marshall, executive vice president and chief growth officer, Sam’s Club, in press release. “Creating a closed loop, omnichannel advertising experience enables us to better understand member shopping behavior and ad performance, ensuring we keep the member experience at the forefront while helping our advertisers achieve their objectives.”
Unilever is one of the first brands to advertise on Scan and Go. Sam’s Club will roll out the ads within the next few weeks.
Sam’s Club has 600 stores. Millions of shoppers are members of Sam’s Club, which costs $50 per year.
With Scan and Go, shoppers still need to have their receipt checked before leaving the store. However, in 20% of stores, Scan and Go shoppers can just leave without the receipt check with computer vision technology. Sam’s plans to deploy this technology in all stores by the end of 2024, the retailer told investors in a recent earnings call, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript.
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