One of the great things about online retail is that you never need to wait to check out. Walmart (WMT) owned Sam’s Club is now looking to speed that process up by eliminating checkout lines altogether.
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A Dallas-area Sam’s Club will soon have no checkout lanes at all. Instead, consumers will use a smartphone app called “Scan & Go” that allows them to scan a barcode with their phone, pay for the item through the app, and then either have the item delivered or arrange for curbside pickup.
Then Again, Maybe Not
Of course, the Scan & Go system is in the early trial stage. And there might be some bugs to workout. One Walmart shopper recently took full advantage of the self-checkout system to cheat a store location. In fact, said shopper went so far as to film herself engaged in shoplifting. But it was not the video of her engaged in the crime that she posted to TikTok that got her caught by authorities. Rather, artificial intelligence (AI) cameras caught her in the act of committing a crime.
The woman scanned several items, then went to scan a backpack but only pretended to scan the item, before putting it in a shopping bag. The checkout stand then locked up, and alerted an associate, who checked footage generated by the camera, which showed she failed to scan the backpack. The woman involved has since been banned from every Walmart in her area for two years.
Is Walmart a Good Stock to Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on WMT stock based on 27 Buys and three Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 55.24% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WMT price target of $74.11 per share implies 7.13% downside risk.
