Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
‹ Back to IndustriesRetail

AI-Powered Retail Checkout At Scale May Take Some Trial & Error

Retailers are learning that automating checkout at scale requires more than technology—it demands patience and strategic pivots

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Retail teams put it to work with Sales Enablement.

By Dinesh Gauri, Ph.D. · Ai-powered Exit TechnologyAmazonDinesh GauriRetail Ai Technology
Share

Key takeaways

01

Retailers are learning that automating checkout at scale requires more than technology—it demands patience and strategic pivots

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Retail?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Retail coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

Sam's Club is innovating the retail checkout experience with its AI-powered exit technology, contrasting sharply with Amazon's recent setbacks with its 'Just Walk Out' technology. Amidst Amazon's rollback on implementing this technology in larger stores due to operational challenges, Sam's Club's approach emerges as a strategic experiment in customer service efficiency, particularly in club stores with fewer item selections. As retail technology evolves, the question looms: Can these AI systems scale up effectively in supercenters with extensive inventories?

Can these AI systems scale up effectively in supercenters with extensive inventories?

This analysis, informed by insights from Dinesh Gauri, Ph.D., a Professor of Marketing at the University of Arkansas and a World-Leading Retail & Grocery Researcher, explores the potential and limitations of AI checkout technologies in different retail environments. Here's a breakdown of the key points derived from Dr. Gauri's expert analysis, considering the nuances of implementing such technology across various store sizes:

  • Technological Scalability: While AI-powered exit technology has shown promise in club stores like Sam's Club, its application in supercenters presents a formidable challenge due to the sheer volume of items. Dr. Gauri emphasizes that the current technology may not be ready to handle the complexity and scale of larger stores with tens of thousands of items
  • Trial and Error Approach: Sam's Club's deployment of this technology serves as a vital test bed for potential broader application under the Walmart banner. The company's cautious approach, starting with smaller, more manageable club stores, could provide valuable insights into whether such technology can adapt to larger formats
  • Rollback Lessons from Walmart: The recent rollback of mobile checkout technology in Walmart's main stores signals caution. Dr. Gauri notes that this rollback due to scalability concerns underscores the challenges faced when attempting to implement advanced technological solutions in environments with extensive product ranges
  • Competitive Watch: The evolution of checkout technology is a test of technical feasibility and a strategic move in the competitive retail landscape. As noted by Dr. Gauri, other major retailers and grocers should closely monitor Sam's Club's initiatives, as even minor differentiators in customer experience can significantly impact customer retention and acquisition
  • Future Directions: The ongoing experiments with AI checkout technology at Sam's Club could set a precedent for future retail operations. If successful, these innovations could lead to broader changes across the retail industry, particularly in enhancing customer experience at scale

As AI technology continues to penetrate the retail sector, understanding its limitations and potential for scalability becomes crucial. Dr. Gauri's insights highlight the current state of retail automation and consider the broader implications for large-scale retail operations and customer satisfaction in an increasingly digital marketplace. This analysis sheds light on the complex interplay between technological innovation and operational feasibility in the retail sector. AI-powered retail checkout is here, and in time, should improve.

Video TranscriptExpand ↓

In contrast with this Amazon just walk out technology, which got under some kind of a pressure recently, a company has announced a little rollback on its implementation at the larger stores. So I I think these technologies, if they work well, they're gonna improve customer customer experience and our overall checkout experience as well as our overall experience with the retailer. So they are good technologies, but whether they can be used for fifty to eighty thousand items, supercenter, or bigger stores versus compared to these club stores, which have lesser number of items. I think it will be good training experience for the company to use this for some of their stores and see if they can expand it to the broader Walmart banner, if at all it's possible. They did try the mobile checkout kind of technology in the main Walmart stores, but they had to roll it back because of concerns about not being up to scale for such a large number of items in the store. I think the time is not yet right for the technology to be used for such kind of stores where there are a lot of items and the scale is a lot more than a few fewer number of items. For smaller stores, which have lesser number of items, this should be something which will be useful, as well as it will be giving the company a good point of reference to see whether they can implement it and use the experience here to their larger banner. And it's something that other major retailers and grocers should watch out for because, you know, when the things get competitive, even a small differentiating factor can help the company get new members and retain existing members. So that's something which I think, in my opinion, other companies should be watching it very carefully. And this is certainly a step in the right direction for a company like Sam's Club to do and experiment it and try to make the customer experience much more better for their members.

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Retail starts with a company putting its merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Category buyers trust operators, so your merchandising leads shorten the distance between first search and first call.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

DG
Dinesh Gauri, Ph.D.
B2B Weekly

The week in Retail, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Retail: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Retail buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Retail expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers into the articles, video, and social content Retail buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Retail Insights

Deloitte: Holiday e-commerce to reach up to $319B in 2026–27

Deloitte: Holiday e-commerce to reach up to $319B in 2026–27

Deloitte forecasts U.S. holiday e-commerce of $316.1 billion to $318.9 billion for November 2026 through January 2027, up 7.5% to 8.4%. Total retail is projected to grow 4% to 4.8% to about $1.7 trillion. The faster online growth rate is a planning input for fulfillment staffing and site readiness.

  • 01Last season's total holiday sales grew 4.1% by Census Bureau count, above the 2.9% to 3.4% range Deloitte had forecast in fall 2025.
  • 02Deloitte's 2025 survey found 33% of U.S. consumers expected to use generative AI somewhere in their holiday shopping; product data quality now matters for machine readers as well as human ones.
  • 03Adobe's and Salesforce's holiday projections landed in late September and October last year, so the next two to six weeks should bring corroborating or conflicting numbers to plan against.

Sep 18, 2026

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Circana reports U.S. private-label sales reached $330 billion, with store brands holding 24% unit share and 23% dollar share of CPG. Club stores drove nearly half of the growth. Circana expects share gains to continue through 2026 at a slower pace as national brands sharpen pricing and innovation.

  • 01Club channels account for nearly half of all U.S. private-brand growth, so a store-brand program benchmarked only against supermarket peers is missing where the volume is actually moving.
  • 02A one-point gap between store-brand unit share (24%) and dollar share (23%) suggests private label is no longer priced far below the market average, which changes the margin math for premium-tier extensions.
  • 03The EU's 50% private-label unit share is more than double the U.S. figure, a reference point for how much headroom exists even as Circana expects the U.S. pace to moderate through 2026.

Sep 17, 2026

Modern Retail: Meta Lab footprint set to nearly double

Modern Retail: Meta Lab footprint set to nearly double

Meta is nearly doubling the store footprint of Meta Lab, its retail concept for Ray-Ban AI glasses, according to Modern Retail. In November 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on pop-up stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Burlingame and New York City. The stores are built for lingering and selfies. That design brief matters for any brand selling a wearable people must try on.

  • 01Meta designed its Meta Lab pop-ups around dwell time and photo-taking, with coffee stations and full-length mirrors; its creative director told The Wall Street Journal the company wants visitors to bring friends and stay a while rather than move through quickly.
  • 02For brands launching a wearable that shoppers need to see on their own face, Meta’s planned store expansion is a real-world reference point for solving the try-on problem.
  • 03The signal to watch is whether the new Meta Lab locations keep the pop-up format the Journal described or shift toward longer-term leases.

Sep 17, 2026

Explore More Retail Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Retail.

Browse Retail Hub

About the Expert

DG
Dinesh Gauri, Ph.D.

For Retail teams

See how Retail teams use MarketScale →

Sales Enablement

Explore Channels

Industry news, analysis, and expert perspectives

Professional AV›Engineering & Construction›Education Technology›Healthcare›Energy›Software & Technology›Retail›Business Services›Industrial IoT›Sports & Entertainment›Transportation›Sciences›Building Management›Food & Beverage›Architecture & Design›Hospitality›Marketing Tech›
Keep exploring

More from Retail

Retail hubMore expert Retail coverage.Explore →Sales EnablementEquip the floor and the field.Explore →BrivoAccess tech storytelling.Explore →State of B2B MarketingWhat is working in B2B marketing now.Explore →

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Retail and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512