Sam’s Club, a leading global retailer and digital innovation trailblazer, has unveiled a new feature within its Sam’s Club Member Access Platform (MAP): display ads integrated into the Scan & Go™ experience. This latest development aims to provide a seamless blend of physical and digital shopping experiences, enhancing convenience for members and offering a novel approach for advertisers to engage with customers.

The new display ads integration within Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go feature represents a significant advancement in retail media. Scan & Go, which allows members to use their mobile devices to scan items as they shop, pay, and bypass the traditional checkout line, has seen a dramatic 50% increase in adoption over the past three years. With one in three members regularly using this feature and its Net Promoter Score (NPS) consistently exceeding 90, the service has become a popular and highly rated aspect of the Sam’s Club shopping experience.

With this new capability, members who opt-in will encounter display ads on the cart page of the Scan & Go interface. These ads will dynamically update with each new product scan, providing a tailored shopping experience and introducing members to additional products as they proceed through their purchase. This approach is designed to drive incremental sales by promoting associated or halo products at the point of conversion.

The introduction of display ads within Scan & Go not only enhances the shopping experience but also offers advanced metrics for measuring advertising effectiveness. Sam’s Club MAP’s closed-loop attribution system allows for precise tracking of member shopping behaviour and ad performance. Metrics such as return on ad spend (ROAS), click-through rate (CTR), incremental sales, and conversion rate will provide advertisers with valuable insights into the impact of their ads.

Diana Marshall, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Sam’s Club, highlighted the significance of this new capability. She noted that it reflects the company’s commitment to delivering relevant ads to the right members at the optimal time in their shopping journey. The integration of a closed-loop, omnichannel advertising experience helps advertisers achieve their goals while maintaining a focus on enhancing the member experience.

Andrew Lipsman, founder and chief analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce, described the launch as a notable advancement in Retail Media 2.0. He praised the integration of display ads into Scan & Go as a step forward in blending physical and digital shopping experiences, delivering value to both customers and advertisers.

At launch, select Sam’s Club MAP advertisers, including major brands such as Unilever, will utilize the new Scan & Go display ads to reach a broader audience. The feature is initially available to select members across all clubs, with a planned rollout to encompass 100% of in-club traffic in the coming weeks.

The integration of display ads into Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go is a strategic move that aligns with the evolving landscape of retail media. By combining digital advertising with a physical shopping experience, Sam’s Club is not only enhancing convenience for its members but also providing advertisers with a powerful tool for reaching customers at a critical point in their shopping journey. This approach represents a significant evolution in retail media, offering a model that other retailers may well look to emulate.

  digital shopping, display ads, mobile app ads, retail media, retail technology, Sam’s Club, Sam’s Club MAP, Scan & Go, shopping innovation