This picture based AI system isn’t perfect, as we sometimes get stopped and manually checked. It’s funny that this works because your purchases aren’t bagged which doesn’t help Walmart with fraud from people not properly checking things out, which interestingly we have a number from the article below, 4% in losses (last trip to Walmart the wife saw someone deceptively scanning). To make this all stranger, Sam’s Club yesterday didn’t have any human cashiers, forcing people to self checkout, and people were struggling, especially the elderly. But what they really want is for you to install the phone application for Scan and Go, paying through the application with their AI system checking you on exit. Also, their scanner gun can scan the wrong item that is nearby having had that happen, so mistakes are pretty easy to make not to mention people are much less trustworthy these days. Hopefully, they’ll have enough negative feedback and dropped memberships to force a return of human cashiers.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2024/01/12/sams-club-uses-ai-at-exit/72201366007/
Sam’s Club, a subsidiary of Walmart, announced it going to implement AI Image capture at it’s exit. Said all 600 stores nation wide will be using the technology by the end of 2024.
By Julia Gomez (Jan 2024)
Sam’s Club announced it will start using artificial intelligence to scan receipts at its store exits.
Sam’s Club chief merchant Megan Crozier introduced the new feature during a keynote speech at CES 2024, the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas.
The exit technology will resolve the “key member concern” of waiting in long lines at its store exits, Sam’s Club parent company Walmart said in a news release on Thursday.
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Crozier said the company plans to include the feature in its nearly 600 stores across the country by the end of 2024.
“We aspire to be the most convenient place to shop,” said Crozier during the presentation.
The American chain tested the technology at 10 stores – nine in the Dallas metro area and one in Joplin, Missouri, reported Retail Dive.
Sam’s AI system uses ‘computer vision, digital technology’
The new exit system, which Retail Dive said was built by in-house Sam’s Club engineers, will use “a combination of computer vision and digital technology” to capture images of a customer’s cart at the exit to verify if the the items in it were purchased, according to the company.
“Now it’s one thing to enable this easy kind of exit tech in a small footprint store for a handful of items,” Crozier said. “But we’re doing it at scale. We’re providing that same seamless experience across thousands of items.”
She said the technology will have “no problem” with scanning a queen-sized bed, an entire winter wardrobe or a cart full of cereal.
“We are constantly looking at ways for Sam’s Club to be the most convenient membership club and will continue to prioritize using technology to provide a truly differentiated and delightful experience for our members,” Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas said in a statement.
Self-checkout product loss
Stores across the U.S. have slowly become more reliant on tech to do jobs that were mainly done by people. It’s too soon to tell whether artificial intelligence will help Sam’s Club with preventing theft, which can be easier with self-checkout.
Retailers across the country say they are facing higher rates of product loss after giving more customers the option of self-checkout.
CBS News Miami reports that the higher levels of merchandise loss. are not just because of theft. Customer errors, like forgetting to scan the box of soda in the bottom of the cart or missing a bottle of facewash hiding away in the corner of the basket, contribute to the growing numbers.
According to the news station, the retailer removed self-checkout from some stores in New Mexico to address the problem.
According to a study on retailers in the United States, Britain, and other European countries, retailers with the cost-cutting features faced a loss rate of 4%, over double the industry average.