July 31, 2024
Courtesy of Walmart
Will Scan & Go Users Want To See Display Ads?
Sam’s Club is launching display ads as part of its Scan & Go mobile checkout experience.
Scan & Go, a feature of the Sam’s Club mobile app, enables members shopping in-club to use their mobile devices to scan items as they shop, complete payment, and avoid the checkout line.
With the new offering, members who opt-in will see display ads on the cart page that refresh after each new product scan, helping them discover products related to the scanned items. Sam’s Club already offers an extra discount on select items for Scan & Go users.
For advertisers, the display-ad feature enables brands to reach members at the point of conversion to help drive incremental sales of associated or halo products. Advertisers also gain a new way to measure member shopping behavior and ad performance in-club with closed-loop attribution, including tracking metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS), click-through rate (CTR), incremental sales, and conversion rate.
The Walmart-owned club said its retail media network, called Sam’s Club Member Access Platform (MAP), becomes the first to integrate ads in a mobile, self-checkout app experience. At launch, Unilever will be among the advertisers delivering display ads.
“This new capability reflects our member obsession and commitment to ensuring ads reach the right members at the right time in their shopping journeys,” said Diana Marshall, EVP and chief growth officer of Sam’s Club, in a statement.
Sam’s Club noted that adoption of Scan & Go has “surged by 50% in the past three years” with one in three members becoming a regular user. The club said Scan & Go’s primary appeal is skipping the checkout line. Earlier this year, Sam’s Club introduced a new AI-powered technology that confirms Scan & Go members have paid for all items in their shopping carts without requiring an associate to check their receipts.
Among other U.S. retailers, Kroger and 7-Eleven offer similar mobile checkout technology, while handheld scanners work similarly at grocers such as Stop & Shop.
However, self-scan checkout isn’t widely used across grocers. In 2018, Walmart suspended its Scan & Go app due to poor feedback and low customer participation. Wegman’s in late 2022 ended its SCAN app due to shopper theft.
Sam’s Club’s display ads rollout comes as in-store media is being forecast as the next major growth area for retail media. Beyond mobile devices, other potential spots for in-store retail media, according to Econsultancy, include endcap screens, ads at the point of sale (such as at self-checkout), and screens on fridge/freezer doors.
EMarketer recently predicted that while in-store retail media spend will triple to over $1 billion by 2028, it will still represent less than 1% of total omnichannel retail media ad spending. EMarketer said, “Lagging tech capabilities, competing priorities, and unproven new formats create an uncertain path forward for retailers.”
BrainTrust
Scott Benedict
Founder & CEO, Benedict Enterprises LLC
Ricardo Belmar
Retail Transformation Thought Leader, Advisor, & Strategist
Carol Spieckerman
President, Spieckerman Retail
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What do you think of the potential for advertisers to connect with in-store shoppers via Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go feature and similar self-scan mobile checkout options?
Where do you see the in-store opportunity for retail media in the near term?
Why hasn’t self-scan mobile checkout become more pervasive across retail?
Poll
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The barrier to this is that, as a general rule of thumb, consumers do not want to be bombarded by ads while shopping. This is especially so if they’re trying to use scan and go devices which can be fiddly enough as is. However, there may be some acceptance of this if the ads are not intrusive, do not interrupt the shopping process, and have some degree of relevance. While retailers love retail media because it’s an incremental revenue stream, this has to be balanced against looking after the primary revenue stream, which comes from customers!
Your comment is very kind.
Ha! Well, if it’s a small ad on a device that consumers can easily ignore then it probably won’t be too much of an issue. If it’s intrusive or interrupts the shopping process it is a massive issue.
When the customer is trying to decide between recipes and evaluating food items on the shelf, nothing like a pop-up greeting for $.50 off Drano. Totally out of context, flow interrupted. Customer agitated.
Ha! That would be annoying, unless you were suffering from a slow drain and it was playing on your mind!
If ML is applied to the ads, such as promoting items that are complimentary to your shopping list, then yes this works. If they are truly as random as Brad is referencing, then CX plummets and the app is doomed.
Fiddly is an understatement. I’m a Walmart+ member and despite numerous attempts to use the app at the check lane… I’ve yet to have a seamless checkout experience.
I prefer the scan and shop type systems offered by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, etc. They just work. And those handheld devices aren’t really suited to intrusive ads!
This seems like one of those ideas that sounded great at the ideation and pitch stage, and could very quickly be over implemented to the point of becoming very annoying to the shopper. Emphasis on very quickly and very annoying. Can I make my shopping list on the app? Show me adds when I make my list. That might actually be helpful. But a new ad every time I scan an item? Hard no for this shopper.
Correct. The concept could, and may work well until too much information and ads are pitched during a shopping trip. When that happens, customers will either ignore te ads (which will be reflected in the unaffected sales of the items in question), and complaints, which should be heeded.
This reminds me of annoying ads that run at gas pumps while you’re filling up. Are customers really paying attention? And if a customer is going to purchase ten items at Sam’s Club, will they be subjected to ten ads? Jeff Sward is right — this probably sounded great at the pitch meeting, but…
The question begs for specificity. If asked, shoppers would likely say they don’t “want” to see display ads as they are attempting to scan. That’s not to say that they won’t respond to them when rolled out. Assuming Sam’s has ensured that the ads in no way impede the scanning and going process, it sounds like a good way to trigger impulse purchases.
Are we nowhere safe from unwanted ads?(toilet stall mounted video screens? Don’t even go there)
Advertising has come full circle. Pre-pandemic, consumers couldn’t wait to get rid of any advertising and were willing to pay for it, as evidenced by the rise of so many streaming video services. Post-pandemic, consumers are more careful about where they spend their dollars, and if accepting advertising means paying a little more? Consumers seem to be much more accepting of this, especially if they perceive that the ads will be relevant and aid a product discovery process.
For advertisers, I expect they will be lining up to pay Sam’s Club to get in front of customers while they shop. For consumers? That will really depend on how these ads are presented. An ad after every item is scanned? That sounds excessive to me and I can’t see many consumers tolerating it. Maybe if the ads are more selective during the shopping process, it won’t feel intrusive, Retailers want very much to enable more in-store inventory for ads as part of their retail media expansion, but as everyone has commented so far – there is a fine line that consumers are not willing to cross when it comes to being served too many ads. Now if those ads come with a discount… that could improve the perception for many consumers.
As to why we don’t see more self scan checkout – much of this is about forming habits, I compare to when Apple Pay first started and many people thought it was to gimmicky to pay with your phone, especially given very few merchants supported it. Today, I find most merchants do, and this consumer relies on it as my number one payment method. So the habit has been formed, but it took many years. It’s also true that scan and go doesn’t work well for every product category. It becomes less convenient when you’re buying a large quantity of items and if you’re buying awkward items, the convenience starts to fall away. But for many purchases it’s very convenient and I expect more consumers to adopt over time.
Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. While you are searching for the next item in a busy and noisy club store, your mobile phone may or may not be in your hand. In most cases, your iPhone is in your pocket or purse since you need both hands to hold the large bottles and boxes that you purchase at the club store.
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume that you are holding your mobile phone in one hand. Currently, you are bombarded with text messages from someone at home shopping with you from a distance. Maybe you are doing Facetime, or even showing products and labels to your shopping partner at home or at work.
It is likely that there is also a lot of other activity occurring on the phone, or perhaps you are contacting someone. If you are scanning QR codes, you might be using the camera on your phone to take your own snapshot of the products on the shelves.
I believe that the last thing you need at this time is a display advertisement on a small screen. Thanks, but no thanks. Db
David, good examples of exact scenarios happening every day.
Our data continues to show that consumers are much more likely to use retailer apps at home than they are while in stores. The convenience of scan and go could move them to using an app in stores, and as long as these ads are relevant to what they’re purchasing, I could see that being an additional layer of convenience offered by this strategy.
The entire point of scan and go is to make the shopping journey more seamless by removing the pain point of the checkout line. Depending on how intrusive the disruption as the shopper is trying to scan items while they are checking items off their list, deciding what they are buying next, and trying to navigate the store, it could potentially create a new pain point depending on actual execution.
Very well stated.
Scan & Go is good. It can tell me where products are, confirm my purchase, and speed up and make the shopping experience more convenient.
But ads???? I concur with several of my BrainTrust Colleagues. Ads are an intrusion into an experience that today, more than ever, grocery shopping is about speed and convenience. Sadly, no matter the intrusion, it will prompt shoppers to buy. Dollars for the retailer and the advertising. Do we care about anything else?
How about if one can add their shopping list at home, and then the app will walk them through the store efficiently?
The risk of this approach is that brand reach goals will win over shopper relevance. If the ads are relevant to the shoppers – such as calling attention to something based on purchase history or reminding them to restock a frequently purchased item – shoppers will appreciate the ad. If the ads are issued to support generating ad revenue by putting more ads on more screens regardless of who is holding that screen or what preferences they have shared through their spending, shoppers will ignore and reject. The goals should be aligned but too often, getting more ads in front of shoppers wins over getting the right ad in front of the right shopper. Even though the data show that shopper relevant ads are more successful at conversion and customer satisfaction than blanketing shoppers with irrelevant ads.
I’ve said this many times, I’m a huge fan of technology and certainly have no ill will against running ads, but the shopper journey is priority one. Making it smarter, simplified, and delightful is the goal. As a shopper, I want more utility in the app, and by utility, I mean intelligence such as an analytical chart or metric that pops up saying I’ve gone over my average weekly spend or a data point that speaks to nutrition in my basket or the number of loyalty points I just earned. That’s utility. That’s insight. That keeps me coming back for more.
As the former Director of Site Merchandising for SamsClub.com, I am particularly intrigued by this concept. Using a member’s shopping habits to determine relevant advertising in a convenient context sounds exciting for all parties, including the member. It sounds like my former colleagues are going to watch and learn from this effort and will likely refine their approach as results merit doing so. However, the relevant use of retail media in a physical shopping experience is an exciting opportunity for advertisers and a pioneering effort from the Sam’s Club MAP team. I look forward to seeing how this effort unfolds in the months ahead.
I am totally against bombarding shoppers with ads that are annoying. However, the examples of the retail media ads on the Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go app appear to be very small and not intrusive. I don’t think shoppers will be irritated by the ads and if they score a good discount on something they like, it will be well received. The key is to have a delicate balance between influence and intrusiveness.
I’m very curious to see the conversion rates for these ads. First-world annoyance. These days it feels like consumers are getting assaulted with advertising with ads almost everywhere they turn. On every app, at the checkout, ads at the gas pump, on every pole in the parking lot, and all over my smart TV… For retailers, this is a nice revenue stream. For the people buying the space, I wonder. I have to think that these impressions are so ubiquitous now that, by and large, consumers have been trained to ignore them.
That said, tech-savvy consumers love the VIP experience of bypassing the check lines. But so do the bad actors. As we continue to make it easier and easier for these folks to bypass what I guess are legacy “gate checks” like cashiers and self-scan kiosk cameras before they can leave the store, we see shrinkage skyrocket. Self-checkout is a good example of this, and that still required some level of supervision at the cashwrap. Now we’re getting rid of that last barrier? I may be an old Luddite here, but I just can’t help but see this pouring more fuel on an already burning issue.
Brands will welcome self-scan as a retail media touchpoint to reach, influence and convert Sam’s Club customers while they shop. If the ads pop up while shoppers are near the advertised merchandise (vs. steps from the exit), they will perform better by making the customer journey smoother and more informative.
In-store retail media will grow in the near term because more than 80% of total retail sales still take place in stores. Brands want to allocate their ad spend to where customers actually spend their time.
For most, grocery shopping is viewed as a task with a purpose, and with a general time limit in mind. Unsolicited pop-up ads on mobile devices not only interrupts the rhythm and pace of shopping, but adds stress. To provide useful value, insights and content to customers while on the shopping journey, it must be provided on their terms. And it must save them time, hassle or money. Retailers who prioritize media network revenue over the customers experience are playing with fire.
When are consumers going to (finally) say enough? I am very interested to know how much $ is forecasted by Sam’s club against this initiative? I mean, whatever the number is, the downgrade of the shopping experience is potentially larger than the upgrade from the revenue forecasted.
Further-how many people will really remember these ads at all? As in, what impact will the ads have on retention and brand recognition.
My forecast-low effectiveness, lower customer satisfaction, for a $ bump of some unspecified amount. And if the effectiveness is low then how sustainable is the initiative.
If the process worked well (meaning the self-scan) AND the ads were subtle and not obtrusive, maybe there would be some traction. Otherwise, it’s just one more thing to ignore!
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The barrier to this is that, as a general rule of thumb, consumers do not want to be bombarded by ads while shopping. This is especially so if they’re trying to use scan and go devices which can be fiddly enough as is. However, there may be some acceptance of this if the ads are not intrusive, do not interrupt the shopping process, and have some degree of relevance. While retailers love retail media because it’s an incremental revenue stream, this has to be balanced against looking after the primary revenue stream, which comes from customers!
Your comment is very kind.
Ha! Well, if it’s a small ad on a device that consumers can easily ignore then it probably won’t be too much of an issue. If it’s intrusive or interrupts the shopping process it is a massive issue.
When the customer is trying to decide between recipes and evaluating food items on the shelf, nothing like a pop-up greeting for $.50 off Drano. Totally out of context, flow interrupted. Customer agitated.
Ha! That would be annoying, unless you were suffering from a slow drain and it was playing on your mind!
If ML is applied to the ads, such as promoting items that are complimentary to your shopping list, then yes this works. If they are truly as random as Brad is referencing, then CX plummets and the app is doomed.
Fiddly is an understatement. I’m a Walmart+ member and despite numerous attempts to use the app at the check lane… I’ve yet to have a seamless checkout experience.
I prefer the scan and shop type systems offered by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, etc. They just work. And those handheld devices aren’t really suited to intrusive ads!
This seems like one of those ideas that sounded great at the ideation and pitch stage, and could very quickly be over implemented to the point of becoming very annoying to the shopper. Emphasis on very quickly and very annoying. Can I make my shopping list on the app? Show me adds when I make my list. That might actually be helpful. But a new ad every time I scan an item? Hard no for this shopper.
Correct. The concept could, and may work well until too much information and ads are pitched during a shopping trip. When that happens, customers will either ignore te ads (which will be reflected in the unaffected sales of the items in question), and complaints, which should be heeded.
This reminds me of annoying ads that run at gas pumps while you’re filling up. Are customers really paying attention? And if a customer is going to purchase ten items at Sam’s Club, will they be subjected to ten ads? Jeff Sward is right — this probably sounded great at the pitch meeting, but…
The question begs for specificity. If asked, shoppers would likely say they don’t “want” to see display ads as they are attempting to scan. That’s not to say that they won’t respond to them when rolled out. Assuming Sam’s has ensured that the ads in no way impede the scanning and going process, it sounds like a good way to trigger impulse purchases.
Are we nowhere safe from unwanted ads?(toilet stall mounted video screens? Don’t even go there)
Advertising has come full circle. Pre-pandemic, consumers couldn’t wait to get rid of any advertising and were willing to pay for it, as evidenced by the rise of so many streaming video services. Post-pandemic, consumers are more careful about where they spend their dollars, and if accepting advertising means paying a little more? Consumers seem to be much more accepting of this, especially if they perceive that the ads will be relevant and aid a product discovery process.
For advertisers, I expect they will be lining up to pay Sam’s Club to get in front of customers while they shop. For consumers? That will really depend on how these ads are presented. An ad after every item is scanned? That sounds excessive to me and I can’t see many consumers tolerating it. Maybe if the ads are more selective during the shopping process, it won’t feel intrusive, Retailers want very much to enable more in-store inventory for ads as part of their retail media expansion, but as everyone has commented so far – there is a fine line that consumers are not willing to cross when it comes to being served too many ads. Now if those ads come with a discount… that could improve the perception for many consumers.
As to why we don’t see more self scan checkout – much of this is about forming habits, I compare to when Apple Pay first started and many people thought it was to gimmicky to pay with your phone, especially given very few merchants supported it. Today, I find most merchants do, and this consumer relies on it as my number one payment method. So the habit has been formed, but it took many years. It’s also true that scan and go doesn’t work well for every product category. It becomes less convenient when you’re buying a large quantity of items and if you’re buying awkward items, the convenience starts to fall away. But for many purchases it’s very convenient and I expect more consumers to adopt over time.
Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. While you are searching for the next item in a busy and noisy club store, your mobile phone may or may not be in your hand. In most cases, your iPhone is in your pocket or purse since you need both hands to hold the large bottles and boxes that you purchase at the club store.
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume that you are holding your mobile phone in one hand. Currently, you are bombarded with text messages from someone at home shopping with you from a distance. Maybe you are doing Facetime, or even showing products and labels to your shopping partner at home or at work.
It is likely that there is also a lot of other activity occurring on the phone, or perhaps you are contacting someone. If you are scanning QR codes, you might be using the camera on your phone to take your own snapshot of the products on the shelves.
I believe that the last thing you need at this time is a display advertisement on a small screen. Thanks, but no thanks. Db
David, good examples of exact scenarios happening every day.
Our data continues to show that consumers are much more likely to use retailer apps at home than they are while in stores. The convenience of scan and go could move them to using an app in stores, and as long as these ads are relevant to what they’re purchasing, I could see that being an additional layer of convenience offered by this strategy.
The entire point of scan and go is to make the shopping journey more seamless by removing the pain point of the checkout line. Depending on how intrusive the disruption as the shopper is trying to scan items while they are checking items off their list, deciding what they are buying next, and trying to navigate the store, it could potentially create a new pain point depending on actual execution.
Very well stated.
Scan & Go is good. It can tell me where products are, confirm my purchase, and speed up and make the shopping experience more convenient.
But ads???? I concur with several of my BrainTrust Colleagues. Ads are an intrusion into an experience that today, more than ever, grocery shopping is about speed and convenience. Sadly, no matter the intrusion, it will prompt shoppers to buy. Dollars for the retailer and the advertising. Do we care about anything else?
How about if one can add their shopping list at home, and then the app will walk them through the store efficiently?
The risk of this approach is that brand reach goals will win over shopper relevance. If the ads are relevant to the shoppers – such as calling attention to something based on purchase history or reminding them to restock a frequently purchased item – shoppers will appreciate the ad. If the ads are issued to support generating ad revenue by putting more ads on more screens regardless of who is holding that screen or what preferences they have shared through their spending, shoppers will ignore and reject. The goals should be aligned but too often, getting more ads in front of shoppers wins over getting the right ad in front of the right shopper. Even though the data show that shopper relevant ads are more successful at conversion and customer satisfaction than blanketing shoppers with irrelevant ads.
I’ve said this many times, I’m a huge fan of technology and certainly have no ill will against running ads, but the shopper journey is priority one. Making it smarter, simplified, and delightful is the goal. As a shopper, I want more utility in the app, and by utility, I mean intelligence such as an analytical chart or metric that pops up saying I’ve gone over my average weekly spend or a data point that speaks to nutrition in my basket or the number of loyalty points I just earned. That’s utility. That’s insight. That keeps me coming back for more.
As the former Director of Site Merchandising for SamsClub.com, I am particularly intrigued by this concept. Using a member’s shopping habits to determine relevant advertising in a convenient context sounds exciting for all parties, including the member. It sounds like my former colleagues are going to watch and learn from this effort and will likely refine their approach as results merit doing so. However, the relevant use of retail media in a physical shopping experience is an exciting opportunity for advertisers and a pioneering effort from the Sam’s Club MAP team. I look forward to seeing how this effort unfolds in the months ahead.
I am totally against bombarding shoppers with ads that are annoying. However, the examples of the retail media ads on the Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go app appear to be very small and not intrusive. I don’t think shoppers will be irritated by the ads and if they score a good discount on something they like, it will be well received. The key is to have a delicate balance between influence and intrusiveness.
I’m very curious to see the conversion rates for these ads. First-world annoyance. These days it feels like consumers are getting assaulted with advertising with ads almost everywhere they turn. On every app, at the checkout, ads at the gas pump, on every pole in the parking lot, and all over my smart TV… For retailers, this is a nice revenue stream. For the people buying the space, I wonder. I have to think that these impressions are so ubiquitous now that, by and large, consumers have been trained to ignore them.
That said, tech-savvy consumers love the VIP experience of bypassing the check lines. But so do the bad actors. As we continue to make it easier and easier for these folks to bypass what I guess are legacy “gate checks” like cashiers and self-scan kiosk cameras before they can leave the store, we see shrinkage skyrocket. Self-checkout is a good example of this, and that still required some level of supervision at the cashwrap. Now we’re getting rid of that last barrier? I may be an old Luddite here, but I just can’t help but see this pouring more fuel on an already burning issue.
Brands will welcome self-scan as a retail media touchpoint to reach, influence and convert Sam’s Club customers while they shop. If the ads pop up while shoppers are near the advertised merchandise (vs. steps from the exit), they will perform better by making the customer journey smoother and more informative.
In-store retail media will grow in the near term because more than 80% of total retail sales still take place in stores. Brands want to allocate their ad spend to where customers actually spend their time.
For most, grocery shopping is viewed as a task with a purpose, and with a general time limit in mind. Unsolicited pop-up ads on mobile devices not only interrupts the rhythm and pace of shopping, but adds stress. To provide useful value, insights and content to customers while on the shopping journey, it must be provided on their terms. And it must save them time, hassle or money. Retailers who prioritize media network revenue over the customers experience are playing with fire.
When are consumers going to (finally) say enough? I am very interested to know how much $ is forecasted by Sam’s club against this initiative? I mean, whatever the number is, the downgrade of the shopping experience is potentially larger than the upgrade from the revenue forecasted.
Further-how many people will really remember these ads at all? As in, what impact will the ads have on retention and brand recognition.
My forecast-low effectiveness, lower customer satisfaction, for a $ bump of some unspecified amount. And if the effectiveness is low then how sustainable is the initiative.
If the process worked well (meaning the self-scan) AND the ads were subtle and not obtrusive, maybe there would be some traction. Otherwise, it’s just one more thing to ignore!