US retail chain Sam’s Club has deployed artificial intelligence and computer vision technology in more than 120 shops since first unveiling it at January’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Sam’s Club, a division of Walmart, is a membership retail club offering products, savings and services to millions of members in nearly 600 clubs in the USA and Puerto Rico.

The rapid deployment of its exit technology represents what it claims is the largest-scale implementation of member-facing AI-powered technology in the retail industry. The retailer reached the milestone of deploying at 20% of its clubs in the first quarter.

This technology has improved the experience for Sam’s Club members almost immediately upon deployment. In clubs where the technology has been deployed, more than half of members are getting the friction-free exit experience. This translates to all members leaving the club 23% faster. It plans to deploy the exit technology to all its clubs by the end of 2024.

The move to use technology to drive a better member experience builds on Sam’s Club’s existing digital options, such as Scan & Go (www.samsclub.com/content/scan-and-go), which the company believes is the most used mobile application in a retailer and/or restaurant in the USA, to provide members with a more convenient shopping experience.

“I’m incredibly proud of the innovation and dedication of our team to deploy this member experience technology at scale,” said Todd Garner, chief product officer at Sam’s Club. “Both exit technology and Scan & Go are driving new levels of convenience and raising member satisfaction among members. What distinguishes Sam’s Club from our competitors is our ability to seamlessly deploy this technology at scale across our nearly 600 clubs nationwide. Whether it’s a single item or a cartful, we’re revolutionising the checkout experience.”

The exit technology is used to confirm seamlessly that members have paid for all items in their shopping carts without requiring an associate to check members’ purchases before leaving the club. Before this technology, members were slowed by queuing at the club’s exit area to have member specialists review receipts and examine items in a member’s cart. Members said they wanted a faster and more convenient shopping experience and consistently rated the potentially lengthy wait times at exit – especially during busy periods – as a primary pain point in their shopping experience.

Now after a member completes payment at a register or via Scan & Go, a combination of computer vision and digital technology deployed in the exit area of the club captures images of carts and verifies payment for all items within a member’s basket. With AI working in the background to speed the process, this digital innovation not only streamlines the member’s exit, but also allows member specialists to refocus their time and expertise to assisting members. With AI constantly learning and improving across thousands of exit transactions at multiple locations, Sam’s Club said it would continue iterating and enhancing the technology as the deployment rollout continued.

The technology at exit is an extension of its use of digital techniques to enhance the shopping experience through Scan & Go, which allows members to use a mobile app to capture purchases on-the-go and bypass the traditional checkout queue in the club, and use that same mobile technology at the fuel station and café.

Now in its 41st year, Sam’s Club (www.samsclub.com) continues to redefine club membership shopping with its curated assortment of fresh food and Member’s Mark items, in addition to technologies and services such as Scan & Go, kerbside pickup and home delivery service in select markets.