They’re teching things up a notch.
Costco, known for offering its warehouse club members decent deals on bulk buys sans the bells and whistles of digital devices, is now introducing scanning technology and digital membership cards to improve customer experience.
It’s an automated miracle.
While a little late to the gadgets game, Costco joins a slew of retailers — from NYC-area supermarkets such as ShopRite, which recently rolled out a fleet of AI-powered shopping carts, to nationwide hubs like Sam’s Club, where sophisticated systems have streamlined its once-bottlenecked exit-checks process — in robotizing for the shopper’s benefit.
“In digital, we’re making meaningful strides to deliver a more seamless and convenient experience for our members across the warehouse and online,” said Ron Vachris, Costco CEO, during the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
The newly implemented scanning technology enables staffers to pre-scan a guest’s cart while they’re waiting in line, getting them through checkout and out of the door in record time. Its new Scan & Pay feature, too, allows shoppers to scan and pay for items through the Costco app.
The time-saving upgrades comes as a boon to Costco members, who’ve consistently highlighted “checkout speed” as a top frustration with the chain, according to RetailWire.
“The warehouses that are first to adopt this pre-scan technology have shown checkout speed improvements of up to 20%,” Vachris revealed. “And across our US warehouses overall, we achieved record levels of checkout productivity in the final weeks of the quarter.”
The membership club, which has long-required folks to prove their patronage by brandishing a physical card for entry inside its stores, is also transitioning to virtual vouchers accessible via the Costco app, and is making much-needed improvement to its in-app mobile wallet.
“As a result of our investments in technology and the commitment from our employees to use this technology to deliver a great member experience, we’re seeing a significant improvement in the speed of checkout,” said Vachris.
Costco has, too, debuted a same-day delivery service, powered by our third-party partners, including Instacart, which has become “a highly effective way to deliver more convenience to our members,” the CEO added.
“Average same-day delivery time in the U.S. is now less than 45 minutes, and the average member satisfaction rating is 4.8 out of 5.”
Costco reportedly plans to offer more tech-positive updates across high-density clubs in 2026, starting with California, Texas, and the Northeast corridor. And the enhancements are expected to payoff in spades
“For Costco, the upside is twofold,” said insiders for Retailwire. “First, faster turnover frees up parking spaces and increases transaction capacity during weekend peaks without requiring the construction of new square footage.”
“Second, richer first-party data on basket composition and trip frequency arms buyers and marketers with insights they can’t glean from anonymous cash sales,” the noted. “In other words, every scan is also a data point.”
