Sam's Club

Sam's West Inc.
Sam's Club
Subsidiary
Industry Retailer local warehouse club
Founded April 7, 1983 (1983-04-07)
Midwest City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Founder Sam Walton
Headquarters Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.
Number of locations
 597 U.S. (as of January 31, 2018)[1]
208 international (Mexico, Brazil, China)
Areas served
 United States
Mexico
China
Brazil
Key people
 John Furner (CEO)
Products Electronics, Office, Home, Furniture, Auto, Patio and Garden Supplies, Children's accessories, Grocery, Pet Supplies, Health and Beauty, Jewelry, Toys, and Sporting Goods.
Parent Walmart
Website SamsClub.com

Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club and stylized as Sam's CLUB) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton. As of 2012, Sam's Club chain serves 47 million U.S. (including Puerto Rico) members and is the 8th largest U.S. retailer.[2] As of January 31, 2008, Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $56.828 billion in sales[3] (in fiscal year 2016) behind rival Costco Wholesale.

Sam's Club had sales of $57.157 billion in FY 2014.[4] It reported a 0.3% sales increase in 2014, 4.1% in 2013, and 8.4% sales increase in 2012. This is significantly higher growth than Walmart U.S. stores, which have not had higher than 2% growth since 2010.[4]

Its major competitors are Costco Wholesale and BJ's Wholesale Club.

As of January 31, 2018, Sam's Club operates 597 membership warehouse clubs in 44 U.S. states.[1] Alaska, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are the only states where Sam's Club does not operate, as is the case for the District of Columbia. Walmart International also operates Sam's Club stores in Mexico, Brazil, and China. It has 162 locations in Mexico,[5] 27 locations in Brazil,[5] and 19 in China.[5] Locations generally range in size from 94,000–161,000 sq ft (8,700–15,000 m2), with an average club size of approximately 134,000 sq ft (12,400 m2).[3]

There were also Sam's Club locations in Canada, six located in Ontario, in which the last location closed in 2009.[6]

On January 11, 2018, Sam’s Club announced the permanent closure of select stores. In a number of cases, employees showed up to work and found the doors locked and a notice saying that the store would be soon liquidated.[7][8][9] Walmart eventually told Business Insider that 63 Sam’s Club stores would begin liquidating across the country, including in Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Ohio and Texas.[10]

According to Business Insider, the Sam's Club closings and plans to convert some stores into e-commerce fulfillment centers as announced in January 2018 are part of Walmart's growing commitment to online retailing that will allow it to better compete with its rival Amazon.[11]

History

The first Sam's Club opened on April 7, 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma in the United States.[12]

In 1987, Sam's Club made its first acquisition by purchasing West Monroe, Louisiana-based SuperSaver Wholesale Warehouse Club;[13] the purchase expanded the chain by 24 locations. The stores were owned by Alton Howard and his son John. In 1989, Sam's Club entered New Jersey with a club in Delran in a former Two Guys/Jefferson Ward store. This was Walmart's first expansion into the Northeast. The first Walmart discount store (now expanded into a Supercenter) in New Jersey opened in 1991 in Turnersville. The company entered the Pennsylvania market in 1990.

In 1993, Walmart acquired PACE Membership Warehouse from Kmart and converted many (but not all) PACE locations into Sam's Clubs.

Sam's Club entered the Canadian market in Ontario in 2003.[14]

The latest flagship club opening as of September 13, 2007, was in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The largest Sam's Club is located in Pineville, North Carolina with 185,000 sq ft (17,200 m2) of retail space that was formerly an Incredible Universe.

On September 24, 2006, Sam's Club received a new logo. The new logo has an updated serif font and features a green and blue diamond inside the big blue diamond found above the word 'Sam's'.

Sam's Club's previous slogan was "We Are In Business For Small Business" until 2006; the decision to remove the slogan comes as Sam's Club attempts to remove itself from serving just small businesses and open up to more individual customers.

In December 2007, Sam's Club launched a new slogan, "Enjoy the Possibilities". Since then it became an official advertising slogan, mentioned in television and radio advertisements, but it is not mentioned on its website. As of January 2008, the "Enjoy the Possibilities" slogan was no longer in use. Sam's Club launched their latest slogan "Savings Made Simple" in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Starting in April 2007, there was speculation of a possible sale or spinoff of Sam's Club from parent company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.[15][16] At Walmart's 2007 annual shareholder's meeting in June, management said that Sam's Club is not for sale, although they did not say they are not considering a spinoff.

On February 26, 2009, Walmart Canada announced that it would be closing all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations.[17][18][19] This was part of Walmart Canada's decision to shift focus towards supercentres, but some industry observers suggested that the operation was struggling in competition with Costco and the non-membership The Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in Quebec), that had a well-established history in the country. Sam's Club also rebranded the two as yet unopened locations as new Walmart Supercentres.

In January 2010, it was announced that ten clubs would be closing, including four in California. At the same time, Sam's opened six new clubs at various locations in the United States.[20]

On January 24, 2010, it was announced that approximately 11,200 Sam's Club employees would be laid off. The layoffs resulted from the decision to outsource product sampling duties to an outside company (Rogers, Arkansas-based Shopper Events, which already performs in-store product demonstrations for Walmart) and to eliminate New Business Membership Representative positions throughout the chain. Most of the laid-off employees were part-time and represented about 10% of the total Sam's Club workforce.

Rosalind Brewer was named as the new CEO for Sam's Club, a change that came into effect on February 1, 2012.[21]

On January 24, 2014, it was announced that Walmart will cut 2,300 jobs at the underperforming Sam's Club locations.[22]

On February 1, 2017, John Furner replaced Brewer as CEO of Sam's Club.[23]

On January 11, 2018, Walmart announced that 63 Sam's Club locations in cities including Memphis, Houston, Seattle, and others would be closing. Some of the stores had already liquidated, without notifying employees; some employees learned by a company-wide email delivered January 11. All of the 63 stores were gone from the Sam's Club website as of the morning of January 11. Walmart said that ten of the stores will become e-commerce distribution centers and employees can reapply to work at those locations. Business Insider magazine calculated that over 11,000 workers will be affected.[24][25] On the same day, Walmart announced that as a result of the new tax law, it would be raising Walmart starting wages, distributing bonuses, expanding its leave policies and contributing toward the cost of employees' adoptions. Doug McMillon, Walmart's CEO, said, "We are early in the stages of assessing the opportunities tax reform creates for us to invest in our customers and associates and to further strengthen our business, all of which should benefit our shareholders."[26]

Design

A Sam's Club store in Maplewood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis
A Sam's Club store in Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico
A Sam's Club store in Suzhou, China

Like other warehouse clubs, Sam's Club sells most of its merchandise in bulk and directly off pallets. The clubs are arranged much like warehouses, with merchandise stocked in warehouse-style steel bins. Products sold include jewelry, designer goods, sunglasses, crystal and collectibles, electronics, floral, apparel, food, and meats. Most locations have Pharmacy, Tire and Battery, Photo, Bakery, Optical, Café and Floral departments. Sam's Club markets items under the private labels Simply Right, Member's Mark, Bakers & Chefs, Daily Chef, and Sam's Club — including products by Richelieu Foods,[27] a private label manufacturer of frozen pizza, salad dressing, sauces, marinades, condiments and deli salads. Sam's Club does not sell the Sam's Choice or Great Value brands that are available in Walmart stores. However, Sam's Club is changing some of the Member's Mark items to the name Simply Right. The Member's Mark Deli products are also changing names to Artisan Fresh.

Sam's Business Center

Sam's Club opened their first Business Center in Houston, Texas, in August 2008. Converted from an existing Sam's location, the Business Center is similar in concept to Costco's Business Centers.

In January 2010, the company announced it would be closing its Business Center, along with nine other clubs across the United States.[28]

Other retail formats

In Houston, Sam's Club opened Más Club in August 2009,[29] a club geared towards the Hispanic population. Membership in Más Club was separate from membership in Sam's Club. The store eventually began a liquidation sale in December 2013, and was closed in February 2014.

Membership

Membership is required to purchase at Sam's Club (except at the cafe, eye exams in optical, and pharmacy where federal law prohibits sales of prescription drugs to members only, as well as liquor and gasoline in some states); however, a one-time 60-day pass may be obtained from many Walmart newspaper ads. A 10% surcharge is added (except where forbidden by local laws, such as in Elmsford, NY, CA, SC) to the prices for non-members, except for pharmacy, cafe, or alcohol items where available. All memberships fees are 100% guaranteed at any point of time in the membership tenure.

Renewal of memberships can be done via the internet, through the mail, in-club at the Membership Services desk, any cash register, and also at new ATM/Membership kiosks (the latter only available in select locations).

In the United States, Sam's Club memberships are divided into two categories: Sam's Club and Sam's Plus, each with an annual fee. Sam's Plus is the most comprehensive membership plan, that includes Cash Rewards, extra savings in Pharmacy and Optical centers, and free shipping on items purchased from their website.[30]

Payment options and store credit products

A Sam's Club in California.
Some Sam's Clubs in the U.S. include gas stations
Shelves of Sam's Club in Suzhou, China

Payment options

Sam's Club locations, as well as their online storefront, accept Sam's Club (online and in-store) and Walmart credit cards (in-store only), Discover Card, Visa, MasterCard, American Express, debit cards (PIN-based, except MasterCard and Discover, which also can be signature-based), Walmart and Sam's Club gift cards, cash, or checks.[31] As of March 2009, EBT SNAP benefits are accepted in-store.[32] In the past, Visa credit cards were not accepted, except at gas stations because of the high processing fees compared with Walmart's discounted rates with MasterCard.[33]

In 2016, Sam's Club rolled out a mobile application that allows users to scan items while they shop and pay for them, skipping the checkout line.[34] As of December 2016, the app can be used at all locations in the United States.

Sam's Club credit

Sam's Club offers store credit lines to individuals and businesses linked to the member's membership card. As of June 2014, Sam's Club discontinued offering the Sam's Discover card and now offers a Sam's Club MasterCard that can be used at Sam's Club and anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Sam's Club MasterCard offers a cash back program of 5% (Up to $6,000 a year then 1% thereafter) on gasoline, 3% on dining and travel and 1% on all other purchases. Sam's Club is also the first merchant in the United States to offer EMV (Europay/MasterCard/Visa) chip-enabled cards.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Walmart is abruptly closing 63 Sam's Club stores and laying off thousands of workers". Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "Sam's Club Corporate Facts 2012" (PDF) (Press release). Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Walmart FY 2016 Annual Report" (PDF). Walmart.
  4. 1 2 "Five–Year Financial Summary - 2014 Annual Report" (PDF) (Press release). Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Information for Walmart Investors: Unit Counts & Square Footage". Retrieved February 21, 2017.
  6. ↑ Georgiades, Andy (26 February 2009). "Wal-Mart Canada to Close Sam's Club Division". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Ritcher, Wolf (11 January 2018). "Walmart Suddenly Shutters Numerous Sam's Clubs without Notice, 11,000 Jobs Impacted, Chaos Breaks out on Twitter". Wolf Street. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  8. ↑ Polk, Leroy (January 11, 2018). "Alaska Sam's Club locations to close permanently in January". KTUU. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  9. ↑ Miles, Jason (January 11, 2018). "Multiple Sam's Clubs close without notice in Houston, across nation". KHOU. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Peterson, Haylay (January 11, 2018). "Walmart is abruptly closing 63 Sam's Club stores and laying off thousands of workers". Business Insider. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  11. ↑ Green Dennis (January 11, 2018). "Walmart's closure of 63 Sam's Club stores shows what the company is willing to do to take on Amazon". Business Insider. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Sam's Club celebrates 25th anniversary with nationwide open house" (Press release). Sam's Club. April 10, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Sam's Club History". fundinguniverse.com.
  14. ↑ Shaw, Hollie. "Wal-Mart Canada to shut its Sam's Club wholesale unit".
  15. ↑ Otte, Timothy M. (May 7, 2007). "Spinoff in Bentonville Revisited". The Motley Fool. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  16. ↑ Otte, Timothy M. (April 17, 2007). "A Spinoff in Bentonville?". The Motley Fool. Retrieved November 27, 2009.
  17. ↑ Georgiades, Andy (February 26, 2009). "Walmart Canada to Close Sam's Club Division". The Wall Street Journal.
  18. ↑ "Walmart Canada to close six Ontario Sam's Club locations to focus on supercenter expansion" (Press release). Walmart Canada. February 26, 2009. Archived from the original on January 15, 2016.
  19. ↑ Flavelle, Dana (February 26, 2009). "Walmart to close all Canadian Sam's Club stores". Toronto Star. Retrieved February 26, 2009.
  20. ↑ "Sam's Club to close 10 stores, four in California". Los Angeles Times. January 12, 2010. Retrieved November 1, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Walmart names Rosalind Brewer as Sam's Club CEO, first woman to hold CEO position". The Washington Post. January 20, 2012. Retrieved January 20, 2012.
  22. ↑ "Wal-Mart to Lay Off 2,300 Sam's Club Employees". The Wall Street Journal. January 24, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Sam's Club CEO Rosalind Brewer to retire Feb. 1".
  24. ↑ "Sam's Club stores close around the country". Cleveland 19 News. January 11, 2018. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  25. ↑ Peterson, Hayley (January 11, 2018). "Walmart is abruptly closing 63 Sam's Club stores and laying off thousands of workers". Business Insider. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  26. ↑ Peterson, Hayley (January 11, 2018). "Walmart is giving its workers a pay raise and a cash bonus of up to $1,000". Business Insider. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Richelieu experiences hiring boom, starts expansion". WCF Courier, RC Balaban. August 27, 2006.
  28. ↑ "Sam's Club Closing Houston Location". MyFoxHouston.com.
  29. ↑ "Más Club Opens August 6 in Houston" (Press release). Sam's Club. July 21, 2009. Archived from the original on December 24, 2009.
  30. ↑ "Sam's Club Application".
  31. ↑ "Accepted Payment Methods".
  32. ↑ "Does Sam's Club accept SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) cards?".
  33. ↑ "Pricing, Retailing Rivalry Likely Led to Sam's Club's MasterCard Deal".
  34. ↑ Sozzi, Brian (22 September 2016). "Walmart's Sam's Club scan-and-go app may make cash registers obsolete". TheStreet. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
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