Amazon’s cashierless stores are about to get some competition — from Amazon’s archrival.
Shoppers at the Dallas store will need to use a custom Sam’s Club Now app. It comes loaded with features, including shopping lists that auto-fill based on past purchases, an interactive store map that navigates shoppers along the « best route, » and augmented reality features that will give shoppers additional product information.
In the future, 700 cameras will help the store « manage inventory in new ways. »
The technology might make its way nationwide into Sam’s Club’s 597 US stores.
Employees will be called « member hosts, » and will help shoppers navigate the store and use the app.
« We’ve known for a long time our associates make the difference, and that won’t change just because shopping preferences evolve, » the company said.
Walmart ( WMT) said the prototype store will help it « incubate, test and refine technologies to help define the future of retail. »
Amazon and Walmart compete fiercely for shoppers.
Walmart is boosting its in-store technology with automated vending machines to retrieve online orders, expanding its grocery business, and growing its e-commerce platform with buzzy brands. For Amazon, it hopes to grow its cashierless Amazon Go stores to 3,000 locations by 202 1 and add benefits for Prime members at Whole Foods.
Walmart’s plan is working. Its online sales are expected to grow 40% this year, and the company recently said that digital growth will expand by 35% in 2019.
« They are one of the few incumbents that has effectively landed some counter punches on Amazon, » said Jason Goldberg, head of the commerce practice at digital agency SapientRazorfish, recently told CNN Business.
