Walmart Inc. will seek to “define the future of retail” at an innovation lab for its Sam’s Club unit scheduled to open soon in Dallas.
Sam’s Club members will use a smartphone app to streamline their shopping experience at the new Sam’s Club Now store, Walmart WMT, -0.24% announced Monday, using technologies such as machine learning to compile smart shopping lists and augmented reality to “bring items to life.”
“We’ll use all available technologies — including computer vision, augmented reality, machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics, just to name a few — to redefine the retail experience,” said Jamie Iannone, CEO of SamsClub.com and executive vice president of membership and technology, in a statement
The 32,000-square-foot location will be only about a quarter the size of a typical Sam’s Club store, which Walmart said will be the ideal size to test new technologies. Shopping at the store will revolve around Sam’s Club’s existing Scan & Go app, which allows customers to scan items as they shop, pay from their phones and skip the checkout line.
Additionally, electronic shelf labels will automatically update prices and eventually more than 700 in-store cameras will be put to use to monitor inventory and optimize the store’s layout.
Sam’s Club Sam's Club Now will use technology to create smart shopping lists and map out where to find those items in the store.
“It’s where we will incubate, test and refine technologies to help define the future of retail,” Iannone said.
Plans for the innovation lab were first announced in June, and while an opening date for Sam’s Club Now was not announced Monday, the company said it was “very close to opening.”
Earlier this month, Walmart cut its fiscal-year profit outlook, and said in its recent earnings report that it is looking to reallocate capital to modernize its operations, including technology and e-commerce.
Walmart’s refocus on technology comes as Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -7.82% is reportedly gearing up to open thousands of cashierless Amazon Go stores nationwide in the coming years, potentially shaking up the retail industry even more.
Walmart shares are about flat year to date, about even with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.19% , of which it is a component.
