The warehouse Sam’s Club has made bold behind-the-scenes moves when it comes to shipping and supply chain. Sam’s Club plan for expansion is going to expedite as it is opening around 15 new stores per year and remodeling all 600 of its existing stores across the country. The Walmart-owned brand was a back-burner project for the company in recent years, but that has slowly changed.
Walmart seems to now have woken to the possibilities at its warehouse club chain and plans massive investments there. It started with Texas where the Grapevine Sam’s Club became ground zero for the company’s Scan & Go service, a new feature that aims to eliminate checkout lanes and receipt checkers. Now, all of Sam’s Club is to have checkout changes.
Sam’s Club expansion plan
At Walmart Inc.’s 2025 Investment Community Meeting on Friday, April 11 Sam’s Club President and CEO Chris Nicholas announced the expansion plan for 2025. The investment for the expansion for Sam’s Club would be around $90 billion with 30 previously announced stores and is also planning to open 15 new stores each year.
“This is one of the fastest, most scalable transformations happening in retail today,” Nicholas said in the release. “We’re investing with intention — in our fleet, our associates and the member experience — to become the world’s best club retailer.”
Sam’s Club checkout changes
As part of that growth, all 600 existing Sam’s Clubs will remodel to remove checkout lanes in favor of the Scan & Go service. The release called the Grapevine location the “standard for the club of the future.”
Sam’s Club Scan & Go
Sam’s Club is betting big on AI. The customers of Scan & Go Sam’s Club can scan their items with an app and purchase them digitally with their phone. This facility will also be available to in-store shoppers where they can buy online-only items by scanning a QR code that adds the item to their shopping cart and then purchase items through their phone and go through AI scanners at the exit to confirm payment. The AI scanners were first rolled out in April 2024 and, judging by the release, will soon be at every city’s local store.
Sam’s Club membership growth
Sam’s Club also shared bold new membership plan. With the increased number of locations, the Walmart-owned Sam’s Club aims to growth membership to double numbers. It also wants more than double sales and profit over the next 8 to 10 years.
Sam’s Club bets on digital
Nicholas believes that technology will play a major role in Sam’s Club expansion plan success, both in-store and online.
“And with our omnichannel approach and the growth of our digital business, we believe we can do it even faster. As we redefine the future of the club channel, we’ve set a new bar for what members expect,” Nicholas said.
Sam’s Club new locations
As per Sam’s Club spokesperson the company will open two new clubs the first for these cities in 2025:
- Tempe, Arizona
- Lebanon, Tennessee
