April 22, 2026 • 39 mins
Sam’s Club doesn’t win by carrying everything, it wins by choosing the right things. We’re joined by Kaity Whitmire, who leads the wellness business at Sam’s Club (HBA, OTC, and Baby), to unpack how curation, trust, and “more newness more often” turn a complex category into a simpler shopping experience for real families.
We talk about what member obsession looks like at shelf and online, why wellness is a need-state intensive space, and how trends like collagen, creatine, and protein are shaping what shoppers expect next (fiber is coming). Katie explains why a curated assortment can feel like a treasure hunt while still reducing choice overload, and how trusted retailers can help cut through the noise of social media claims and endless marketplace listings by making the complex simple.
If you’re on the brand or supplier side, you’ll get a clear view into what strong partnerships require: transparency, a strategic mindset, and a digital-first approach built for scale. Kaity shares why the club channel can be a brand-building engine, how price pack architecture can start with a club pack and ladder into other formats, and how testing online or in a handful of clubs can shape a smarter go-to-market plan.
We also dig into the omnichannel side of the member journey: why e-commerce still needs editing, how content and member reviews build confidence, and why Scan and Go changes the value equation by saving time. If you care about retail merchandising, wellness innovation, and the future of curated commerce, this one is packed with practical insight. Subscribe, share this with a retail friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:07):
Hello and welcome to the Retail Journey podcast.
I'm one of your hosts, CharlesGreathouse.
SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
And I am James Harris.
And today we are talking toKatie Whitmeyer from Sam's Club.
Katie.
Hi.
Welcome to the Retail Journey.
SPEAKER_00 (00:21):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited about this.
SPEAKER_01 (00:24):
Yes.
Glad you could be here.
Um, you've had an interestingjourney across retail, if you
would, but would love to hear alittle bit about you before we
get started.
SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
Yeah.
Uh so first and foremost, I am amom.
Uh two very precious, very wild,tiny little children at home,
six and three.
Um, my husband and I live innorthwest Arkansas.
I'm actually a bit of a unicornin that I was born here.
SPEAKER_04 (00:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (00:49):
And I grew up in this and essentially only ever
worked at Sam's Club.
Uh and so really, yeah, I'm aloyalist.
Let's go.
Um, so I have the privilege andhonor of leading the wellness
space for Sam's Club, whichencompasses HBA, OTC, and baby.
Um, I have an absolutelybrilliant team and I've come up
through merchandising.
So I got to do things like I wasa pharmacy technician in the
(01:12):
local club.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:13):
Um, I worked in Wine and Spirits, which is a really
fun category.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
I bet.
Yeah.
Uh I got to circle back to that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:19):
Come back to that.
Uh I got to learn about trashbags with the retail legend Tom
Kinzer.
So that was amazing.
Got to do some finance planning.
That was that was a time.
Yeah.
Uh, and then have kind of beenin the OTC and wellness space
ever since.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
Excellent.
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
Finance planning, that was a time.
All right.
Yeah, that was a time.
unknown (01:37):
I learned a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (01:38):
I learned it was great.
It was actually, so it was oneof the hardest uh jobs that I've
ever had.
Not because I had to learn howto do a budget and that type of
thing, like retail math, you youfigure it out, right?
Um, but it was a different typeof leading.
You had to figure out how tolead uh without any actual
power.
SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
Kind of cross-brims.
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
You want to own the PM?
Right.
I just support the people thatown the P.
Uh and so that was a transitionfor me.
But it's it taught me a lotabout communication, it taught
me a lot about uhcross-functional ways of
working, and I think ultimatelymade me a much better merchant.
SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
Well, a big part of leading is is influencing.
Yep.
And if you can learn toinfluence when you don't have
authority, you can definitelylead what you have if you have.
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
On the uh the Walmart side, that's why they
made all the merchant trainingprograms.
You ended as a uh planninganalyst, um, which is you know
the the lowest of the totempool, zero decision rights, just
influence, focused on what thePL says about the decisions that
are being made.
That was an intentional moveback in the day.
(02:40):
I think they land in associatemerchant roles now, but I uh I
don't think I wanted that at thetime, but yes, relish the
ability relish the ability tolike just influence, no decision
rights whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00 (02:53):
Hey, like I remember there's the this I had an
absolutely brilliant merchantthat I supported.
Yeah, um, she'd been doing itfor a very long time, and she uh
she's from the Northeast, so shewas just very direct in
everything that she did.
I'll never forget having to tellher you can't go buy this item.
You don't have any open to buycrossing.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (03:10):
Clothes to buy.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
And she looked at me and she was like, no.
Yeah, okay.
Um, so I went back to my deskand I was like, how do I go back
and do this?
Right.
And so that quickly was like,okay, if I can get an operations
perspective of like, where areyou gonna put this, right?
If I can get a liabilityperspective of you're
jeopardizing, you're notmaximizing the sales that you
get on this because it doesn'thave space.
SPEAKER_01 (03:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Um, and come back with the actual plan instead of
just a product.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:39):
Maybe I will have a better outcome, right?
And so I came back and Iactually had a solution that
time.
Yes, and it was a wildlydifferent conversation.
And she saw value in that, andthen we were partners in it,
right?
And so not only was Iaccountable to helping her make
the space and do the buy, butnow you know she was on the hook
and we had a plan.
So it taught me that's a greatlesson.
SPEAKER_02 (03:59):
Oh wow.
So good, very humbling, alsohard, very hard.
Yeah, so you're a loyalist.
Yes, you only worked at Sam'sClub.
SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
I'm leaving at Sam's.
SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
I have to assume this is your favorite job.
SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
This is my favorite job.
SPEAKER_02 (04:11):
So what uh pulls you out of bed every morning, gets
you so excited about this job.
SPEAKER_00 (04:16):
Yeah, okay.
Uh so first and foremost, myteam.
Like, I have the privilege ofworking with the most diverse,
most brilliant group of peopleum that I've ever come in
contact with.
And so I get really jazzed aboutthat because if you ask what
motivates me, it's people,product, and innovation.
SPEAKER_04 (04:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
Um, I uh I love change.
Uh, change is hard, but I thinkchange forces us all to think
differently and do differentthings.
SPEAKER_02 (04:40):
Change could also be fun.
SPEAKER_00 (04:41):
It's so fun.
There's so much energy in thisspace right now and just in
retail in general, and youreally can reinvent yourself if
you have this appetite forchange and you have this ability
to be agile, right?
And then I'm very peoplemotivated.
Like people, um people inspireme, people challenge me, people
develop me and grow me.
(05:02):
And so anything that I can do tointeract with other people
throughout the day is where I'mgonna spend my time and how I'm
gonna get my energy.
SPEAKER_04 (05:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
Uh, and then I just love retail.
Like when I was a buyer, Iremember walking down the aisles
and like my buy plan was like myfamily album.
I love that attached to theseitems that you pour your heart
and soul into to see a memberrespond and react.
Like it's personal, and it evenif they don't like it, right?
I want to know why you don'tlike that, right?
(05:29):
How can I make it better?
Because I know what the intentis and I know what the capacity
of the retail environment isright now, and I just want to
serve people.
SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Yeah, yeah.
So that's cool.
And in this kind of space, likeyou're serving families in a
significant way, you're servingpeople, helping them feel
better, right?
Um, giving them a delight or atreat that they might not have
expected, obviously surprisingthem with value and simple
savings or yeah, whatever thecurrent savings instant.
Obviously, it's instant, besimple.
(05:59):
Um and yeah, so that's I mean,that's really fun.
Yeah, love that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:03):
Yeah, I uh I'm manual.
Like it is so cool personallywhen your professional side um
overlays with your personalmachine so well.
Yeah, and Sam's Club for mefeels like home.
Um, I had the opportunity to bea legacy Sam's Club child.
Uh so I very much remember beinguh in elementary school on a
(06:24):
flatbed on a Saturday with mydad as he did club talk club
tours.
Um and then oh awesome.
Yeah, like so.
Retail for me, day one, was kindof ingrained in the blood.
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
Um, and I never just looked at orange juice as orange
juice.
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Right.
Um so that was never ruined foryou.
It was just never normal.
There was always strategy behindthe mod.
SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
Right.
But normal was like, well, whydoes this look interesting?
SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:47):
Why do I want to buy this?
Right, like the shopperpsychology piece always really
interested.
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
That's such a different perspective.
It is like I remember whenshopping was ruined for me
because it went from I'm justlooking for things I want to, I
wonder why they did that.
Yeah.
I wanted you, oh, that'sinteresting.
Oh, you must be trying to.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:05):
Yeah, y'all, my friends and family will not go
to the store with me.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
Like any yeah, for sure.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (07:11):
They're like, you are not on a mission.
SPEAKER_01 (07:13):
Doing it for them.
SPEAKER_00 (07:14):
Yeah, like you just constantly want to look at
things, yeah, critique things,and ask why about things.
And they're like, it's not acuriosity event.
This is a shopping event.
Yeah, like we are gonna buythings.
SPEAKER_02 (07:25):
It's so funny.
So your your everyday members,people that are that come in and
Sam's every week or two, they'reused to this, but maybe a few
people listening are Sam's Clubdoes really well with new.
SPEAKER_04 (07:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (07:39):
Right?
Yeah.
Um, I had the opportunity thismorning, about an hour, and uh
so I spent some time in theBentonville Club.
SPEAKER_00 (07:46):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (07:47):
And I don't want to compare one department to
another, but I did walk thewhole store, and there's so much
more new in wellness than inmany other places.
Now, maybe that's where a lot ofthe trends are, right?
Collagen and uh uh you knowdifferent different things that
are happening at the same time.
Talk about your kind ofphilosophy behind new and you
(08:09):
know what that means to themember, what that means to well,
to Sam's.
SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
Yeah, uh, so my philosophy is more newness more
often, right?
Um, and and I think it's assimple as that.
Our members pay to shop with us,and they don't pay for
necessarily they very simplysaid, they pay because of an
item, right?
They pay to shop with us becausewe have the very best item at
the very best value.
(08:35):
And then they keep coming backbecause we've figured out a way
to remove the friction and we'remaniacal about what that
experience is and how do wedrive excellence at every point
in that journey, right?
Um, wellness, I keep telling myteam, wellness is on the
precipice of greatness.
Uh, it's one of the top fivethings on our members' minds
when they walk in.
And when you look at it, thewellness space is actually um
(08:57):
setting the stage for what'shappening in functional food and
bev.
People have known about collagenand they've known about protein
for a long time in the wellnessspace.
And now you're seeing it migrateinto chips, into bars, into
yogurts, right?
SPEAKER_02 (09:10):
The protein into everything.
SPEAKER_00 (09:11):
It's in everything, right?
And fiber's next.
And so um I take greatresponsibility in making sure
that the wellness space at Sam'sClub delivers really great
treasure hunt type experiencesfor our members that keep them
on the cutting edge of what'snew, what's emerging, with the
best quality and valueproposition that they can find
anywhere in the market.
(09:32):
And the beauty of it is we're acurated environment.
And so you don't have to walk amillion aisles with a million
items to try and figure outwhat's the best of the best
bypassing.
SPEAKER_02 (09:41):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
There's only one, maybe two on the shelf.
I had that hard choice for you.
SPEAKER_02 (09:46):
I had that impression in the main kind of
aisle of wellness where you'vegot collagen products and
creatine products.
And um, I thought I bet the thepercentage of new here is
greater than not just otherparts of the club, but really
anywhere because you have such areduced skew count.
SPEAKER_04 (10:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
Um, a really large percentage of it can surprise
you every couple weeks.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
Yeah.
I'll tell you, the the whole boxis doing a great job though.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:12):
Right?
No, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
The entire box is really maniacally focused on
items right now and how muchmore newness is in the market
compared to three years ago isinsane.
Yeah.
And all boats rise when thewaters rise.
And so I think what you'reseeing from Sam's Club is we're
really ambitious to give membersreasons to come down the aisle
and explore and find great itemsand find great solutions for
(10:36):
different need states that theyhave, right?
And wellness, uh, we have a jokeinternally, and we say like
wellness technically is skewintensive because it's need
state intensive.
SPEAKER_03 (10:47):
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:47):
Like I have to cover everything from your headache to
your multivitamin to your herbsand supplementation, all the way
down to your band-aids.
Yeah.
Right.
And that's just a vastassortment and we head to toe.
Um, and it's a privilege, but italso makes it a little bit
complex.
And for the average personthat's not engaged consistently
(11:09):
with a healthcare professionalor anything like that, it's a
very intimidating space.
Yeah.
And so it's our job, and it'salso the the kind of unique
asset that Sams Club has is thatwe're a curated environment.
And so again, we drivesimplicity by only having a
couple of options per meatstakefor that member.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
They're just the best.
SPEAKER_00 (11:28):
They're the best of the best.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
The best options, the best of the best.
That's uh and that takes a lotof knowing.
It does.
I mean, you must be curious.
We talked about how you shop andyou're not fun to shop with.
If you're not also curious,you're just trying to buy stuff,
like, yeah, no, this isn't gonnabe fun for you.
Yeah, but if like talk to usabout like, I don't know, where
does that come from?
(11:49):
And and I don't know, ifsomeone's out there, maybe
they're buying, maybe they're inthe supplier world.
Like, how would you encouragethem to really take curiosity on
behalf of the member with them?
Like, yeah, what does that looklike?
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
I think uh about a couple of things.
Number one, you have to bemember obsessed at Sam's Club.
Like, I have to care about everysingle component of the member's
interaction with an item andtheir experience, right?
Um, I have to constantly becurious.
Um, we Latrice is really her bigtake right now, Latrice is our
(12:24):
CEO, and her big take right nowis ask for more and what's your
more?
Right.
And what we did yesterday is notgood enough for today.
And so even if we have a greatitem on the shelf, my team is
going back and saying, like, howcan I make this better?
What's next in the evolution ofthis?
Um, and I think that curiosityis gonna be what sets a good
(12:44):
merchant apart from a greatmerchant.
Um, and you know, the world isnever gonna be as slow again as
it is today.
And so if that's crazy to thinkabout the future, right, then
we're gonna be part of the leftbehind series.
SPEAKER_02 (12:56):
Yeah.
So you kind of lean in therewhere you know items are a big
focus.
Um companies, suppliers bringitems, right?
Yes.
Um what's yeah, uh so we couldwe kind of break down about
50-50 of people that work inretail, people that work uh on
the CPG side of things that thatlisten.
(13:18):
Um how what what's what's bestcase?
What are you looking for in asupplier where you say, oh, that
this is somebody I can workwith, I could partner with.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
Yeah.
Um brands can be built at SamsClub, right?
And I think there's thishistorical notion of I've got to
be X percent of the marketbefore I can come and enter the
club channel.
Yeah, that's not the case,right?
And our members pay to shop withus because of items.
And if we can present an itemthat takes care of a need state
(13:50):
for a member at an incrediblevalue, they're gonna buy it.
SPEAKER_04 (13:53):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
And so as I think about what makes a really great
supplier relationship, numberone, they're strategic.
It's not transactional.
If all we're doing istransacting a PO, then we're not
serving the member to the bestof our ability, right?
Yeah.
And what being strategic reallymeans is number one, you're
transparent.
Um I have to know what you knowand you have to know what I know
(14:16):
so that we can be um alignedfrom the beginning and we can
stay aligned throughout thejourney.
SPEAKER_04 (14:22):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (14:22):
The other thing is they have to be as maniacal
about my member as I am, right?
They have to consider the item,the family album, like I do, and
they have to be as passionateabout that.
And then I think the third thingis they have to have a growth
mindset.
Um, we are a growth retailer andwe are focused on growth and
they have to do that as well.
And they have to think aboutthings like capacity, they have
(14:43):
to think about scale, right?
Um, they have to think abouthominy.
You have to have a digital firstmindset, right?
And those things, while verysimple and and elementary,
really are the steps for successfor a great partnership.
SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
In your category, especially that digital first,
there's a lot of things toresearch.
Yeah.
Right.
Especially if you're if you'realready taking, these are my
five supplements I take everyday.
And I'm gonna, I really want totry this sixth thing, but it
doesn't overlap.
There's a lot of opportunity forresearch.
Do you see that on the site?
SPEAKER_00 (15:15):
Oh, absolutely, right?
Um, and it's both a an excitingthing and a kind of a scary
thing, right?
Um, there are less and lesspeople that we are considering
medically motivated, meaningthey've had an engagement with a
healthcare provider coming downthe aisle than ever before
because preventative wellnessisn't arise.
SPEAKER_04 (15:34):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (15:34):
Everybody wants to live a healthier life.
And if I can make one small steptoday that keeps me out of a
chronic condition down the road,why would I not do that?
SPEAKER_04 (15:43):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (15:44):
Um, and so members are looking for information
everywhere that they go andthey're being inundated all the
time with information.
It can be their neighbor Susie,it can be Betsy on social media,
it can be this TikTok influencerthat they just saw, right?
And so I think that's againwhere a credible retailer like
Sam's Cloud becomes reallyvaluable because they trust us,
(16:05):
right?
And they know we're not gonnaput something out there that's
not efficacious or that hasn'tbeen vetted.
And so really it's up to us thento make the complex simple.
How do I take all these reallymassive, you know, uh and
compelling claims about all thethings that this might treat and
really boil it down to say, hey,this might help with XYZ.
(16:26):
You take it like this from adosage standpoint, and this is
the regimen, right?
Um, and if we can, if we can bevery thoughtful about making the
complex simple and we can makeit easy for the member, that's
how we're gonna win.
And that's how we'll berelatable in this world of noise
to your point where you couldeasily end up with 45 different
things as part of your morningregimen.
SPEAKER_01 (16:47):
Yeah, right.
I think we, you know, we weoften talk about um, you know,
we're in Betonville, the theland of Walmart.
I have not too many people startoff with Bettonville, the land
of Sam's Club.
Um, I think we're gonna startsaying, you know, we support
Sam's Club and Walmart insteadof L Mart and Sam's Club.
We love Sam's Club.
Well, we we love Sam's Club.
It's been uh it's been reallyfun, and it's been fun to watch,
(17:09):
you know, differentenvironments, different
categories, differentdepartments, and and the ways
that people bring things tolife, but it's clear that the
member trusts what the whatSam's Club says, this is the
best.
Um in the rest of the e-commerceworld, it isn't this is the
(17:30):
best.
It's this is all the things.
Um I um I take quite a bit ofsupplements as a recovering
vitamin merchant.
Um and so I I believe in it andI take them and I and I love
them.
Um and I have have died insidewhen some of the Spring Valley
private brand items I createdhave been you know discontinued
(17:53):
or changed.
It's like, no, my formula.
Like that was awesome.
Why didn't we change this?
It's gone.
Um that's fine.
But I have a hard time.
Um now that I've been uhpromoted to customer from uh
Walmart Inc., my wife and Idon't argue about shopping on
Amazon as much.
(18:13):
Like I certainly like let'sstart with Walmart.
Please can we start?
SPEAKER_04 (18:17):
Please.
SPEAKER_01 (18:17):
Like, do you know what I do for a living?
Let's start here.
This is Bentonville, come on.
Um, but there's still some timeswhere it's like, okay, Amazon,
okay, it's fine, whatever.
Uh supplements, absolutely not.
Like you can't just buysomething on Amazon, you don't
know where that thing came from.
It's it's hard and it's gettingmore complex.
This marketplace thing hasbecome really complex.
(18:38):
I'm interested in the land ofyou know, eternally long tail
assortment, and you're selectiveand omnichannel.
What's the role of e-commerce?
Like, help people think throughlike this isn't about an
eternally long tail.
Right.
Like, what does the e-commerceat Sam's Club mean for the
member?
SPEAKER_00 (18:56):
Yeah, it still has to be curated, right?
I mean, yeah.
Based on behavior, that theydon't go past the first page um
the bulk of the time.
SPEAKER_02 (19:05):
Most of the time, not the first.
SPEAKER_00 (19:06):
Yeah, right.
Like it still has to be acurated environment.
Um, but we also have to becognizant of the the shopper
psychology behind how theyinteract with e-commerce, right?
And the member doesn't thinkabout it in terms of a channel,
right?
They think of it in terms of aum shopping experience, right?
And I need a certain product andI need it in this time frame and
(19:29):
I need it this way.
And that's gonna dictate do I goin club, do I go online, do I
have it delivered, right?
Is it okay to ship to my home?
Like all of those are ourdecision points kind of in that
model.
And as we think about the roleof e-commerce, it is the fastest
growing channel by far and away.
It's also where we can do areally great job from a reach
(19:51):
perspective.
Our clubs are curated, right?
And um, a member in Florida doesnot behave the same way as a
member in California sometimes,right?
Does not behave the same way asa member in the Northeast,
right?
And so to come into a club is avery um, very tough thing to do.
(20:12):
Um, because we have to make abig bet from a productivity
standpoint and you know it's onein, one out kind of mentality.
To come in online, what we canactually do is we can put it in
front of a member where theywould expect to find it, and we
can figure out who the member isthat's gonna buy this, right?
And then we can take thoselearnings and maybe expand into
club from there.
(20:33):
But I have way more traffic inclub.
I mean, the largest club is onyour is in your hand.
SPEAKER_04 (20:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:39):
Right.
And if you think about it likethat, that changes the game
because everybody, nobody wouldsay, I don't want to be in the
largest club.
SPEAKER_04 (20:44):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (20:45):
Right.
And so when you think about thatand you think about the size of
it, um, dot com represents asignificant number of clubs
volume for us.
And so when you go online andyou have a curated environment,
you can really kind of build abasket the way that you want
that basket to be.
We can tell the member morecontent about what the item is
(21:06):
and why of it.
We can show them inspiringimages.
Like I can show you toothpastewith a toothbrush with floss.
Yeah, I can show you the entirethree-piece system.
SPEAKER_01 (21:16):
The whole thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
Wow, and then you might say, Okay, well, I didn't
have floss on my list, but now Ihave floss on my list.
Yeah, right.
So that's a better experience.
SPEAKER_01 (21:22):
Dentists around the country are just celebrating
your ability to regimen theseguys.
Come on.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
Is on fire, which is also the barometer of your
health and your body.
So oral health is very, but youcan also see reviews from
members about products, and Ithink that's really important
too, is I want to control thestory that's different kind of
verification going on with Sam'sClub reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (21:48):
It is it carries weight.
SPEAKER_00 (21:49):
Right.
Like you know, these are peoplejust like you that paid to be
here, right?
SPEAKER_02 (21:52):
That's interesting.
And none of them are paid forbecause they couldn't be there
were they not a member thatbought the product.
SPEAKER_00 (21:59):
Right.
Syndicate some reviews.
And so there is some syndicationout there, but it's on brains or
items that are at SamsCloud.
SPEAKER_04 (22:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
So you know that it's real and you know that it's
a usage.
Um, and I think that's reallyimportant just as you go through
the validation and the trustagain behind the quality of why
the item is there.
SPEAKER_02 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So going back to suppliers alittle bit, um, so you kind of
explained these this is what youlook for in a great partner.
What about that company thatsays or has thought Sam's wasn't
an option?
And now they're hearing Sam's isan option.
How do they think about how tobring value to something that
(22:39):
sells in mass?
Uh, how to think about puttingthat into a club environment?
SPEAKER_00 (22:44):
Yeah.
So our members tell us very sowe have a thing called uh our
members mark community.
Um, and it's live, it's a membercommunity where we can go out
and ask them about products, wecan ask them about experiences,
we can be like, how do youdefine value?
Right.
So they tell us very directly,uh, which is great.
(23:04):
And uh part of that goes back tothat member obsession.
We literally are that obsessedthat we're listening to that
level of detail from ourmembers.
And when they define value,price is very important, twice
as important as anything else,right?
Um, but they also define valueas quality and experience.
Yeah.
And so they give us credit forthe quality.
SPEAKER_02 (23:25):
Experience in club or experience with the product?
Both, both.
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:29):
Any touch point of experience.
Like how was the packaging whenI arrived at the shelf?
Or how did it arrive to me if itwas shipped to my house, right?
SPEAKER_04 (23:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:38):
Um, does it tell me what it needs to do?
Does it, you know, not spill ifit's a gummy vitamin?
Do the gummies not all clump upat the bottom and then I can't
get my hand through the top ofthe jar, right?
All of those things.
And then did I have to wait inline?
Because I didn't have scan andgo, which you should have scan
and go.
Um, use that scan and go.
Yeah, that's time is money, andthat takes away from the value
(24:01):
equation for us.
And so all any touch point thatthe member has goes into that
experience metric that weevaluate and they contribute
value to.
SPEAKER_02 (24:09):
When you mentioned scan and go, I'm glad because I
was going to bring it up becauseit is one of the smartest things
I've ever seen a retailer do.
Um and just my personalexperience with it, I'm a little
bit slow with technology, alittle bit of a late adapter.
So I was in a club shopping oneday, and just for years, you
know, you go to the thing andyou check out, right?
(24:30):
So it was since um Scan a Go asan option.
I'm standing there, it wasaround Christmas, around the
holidays.
Uh every line was pretty backedup, and I and that I remembered.
And I pulled up the app, scannedall the stuff in my cart, and
just walked out and never havetouched a register.
So did you it's amazing, it'sbeautiful.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
You walk into other retailers and you're like, wait,
what?
I have to wait.
SPEAKER_01 (24:54):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (24:55):
Like that's not optimal, right?
SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and the delivery's umimpressive.
Like it's it works really well.
Now I'm in Benville.
So I don't know.
Maybe, maybe we're really,really good here.
We're expanding, but like, boy,are we good?
SPEAKER_00 (25:08):
We're expanding.
Yes, we're expanding expressdelivery.
Uh, there's a lot of excitingthings.
You think about the the beautyof Sam's Club.
I mean, imagine it's threeo'clock in the afternoon and
you're like, I did not makedinner plans.
It is my wife's birthday.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
Um, you're in a bad way.
SPEAKER_00 (25:25):
Yeah, and guess what?
I'm out of XYZ, right?
You can get dinner delivered,you can have a great ready meal
solution.
SPEAKER_02 (25:32):
Whether it doesn't look like it came from fast
food.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
That doesn't look like it, yeah.
It came from fast food, right?
Like it's real qualityingredients at an incredible
value.
You can get her a diamondnecklace, uh, and then you can
get your multivitamins in yourtoothpaste.
SPEAKER_02 (25:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:46):
Same order.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
Well, if I've got a sick kid, and it can be in your
home.
And your sauna.
That was where I got hung uptoday.
I had a hard time moving pastthe the barrel sauna.
SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
This belongs in my bag.
SPEAKER_04 (25:58):
Yeah, it does.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
I mean, it's just it's awkward when I go in in my
swimsuit with a towel, but otherthan that, that's great.
They frown on that again.
Yeah, no sampling the sauna inthe club.
You know, it's sure.
SPEAKER_04 (26:10):
Yeah, sauna is incredible.
SPEAKER_01 (26:11):
Yeah, yeah.
Awesome.
I love that so much.
Um, I mean, the uh ability to bevery much item-centric and to
celebrate a really coolinnovation on behalf of your
member.
Um, last time I saw you was atExpo West, one of the craziest
trade shows on the planet,Natural Product Expo.
You know, thousands ofexhibitors, so much to see.
(26:33):
A lot of those, I wonder whatthe conversations you had were
like, but are they thinkingabout a curated assortment as
part of their their go-to-marketstrategy?
Like what is it?
How would you how would youspeak to those entrepreneurs
about guys?
Listen, what you're thinkingabout when you think of Sam's
Club might not be what Sam'sClub is today.
SPEAKER_00 (26:51):
Yeah, yeah.
I think uh so Sam's Club in thepast, right?
Um, we've but we've been on ajourney.
And I think where we're at todayis very different from where
we've been in a positive way.
Like we are maniacally focusedon items and we care a whole
heck of a lot about what theexperience is behind that item
and how our member interactswith it.
(27:13):
And so when I went to Expo, likeI'm talking to um, let's use a
toothpaste example, right?
Um, there was a natural caretoothpaste brand that we were
talking to.
And she was like, Yeah, we're,you know, we're coming off of
our D2C, we're thinking aboutretail, we don't really have an
idea of where we want to go yet.
SPEAKER_02 (27:30):
And I said, Sam's would be perfect.
SPEAKER_00 (27:31):
Have you thought about the club channel and Sam's
Club?
And she was like, Yeah, butdon't I have to be, you know,
20% of the market before I canhave a conversation?
I was like, absolutely not.
Like you have a and so ourmembers are um obsessed with
better free products.
And it's something that we'vedone a brilliant job from a
members mark standpoint with ourmade without lists and things
(27:53):
like that.
Um, and so our members areexpecting higher quality from us
in the beginning, right?
And we have members asking everyday for alternatives that are
better free that don't have thedyes, the fillers, all of the
things.
And so I was able to stand therewith her and be like, I've heard
directly from our members thatthey want a solution like this.
SPEAKER_04 (28:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:09):
Right.
And so it's really up to us tofigure out how do we bring this
to life, if this is the rightbrand in the right time.
And actually, when you thinkabout coming to retail and you
start with club, it's a wholelot easier to design price pack
architecture because I can tellyou what a club pack would look
like that makes sense for ourmembers.
And then you can architect downfrom there what a retail pack
(28:32):
might look like and what a, youknow, a beginning a sample pack
might look like.
And what that allows you to dois come into club with a pack
size that's conducive for themember at a price point that
they're willing to pay for,right?
Um, sometimes what happens ifbrands wait too long to do the
hard work of price packarchitecture on the front side,
we get pack sizes that are justnever going to make sense for my
(28:54):
member, right?
And that's really hard.
And so I think from afundamental item build
standpoint, that's a benefit.
The second piece of this is I'mcurated.
And so there are a handful oftoothpaste skews on my shelves
today.
And so you have the opportunityto come in and potentially be
100% of the assortment for anatural, better for you
(29:16):
toothpaste.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (29:18):
That's pretty compelling, right?
SPEAKER_01 (29:20):
To a significant member base that's engaged.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
Large member base that's engaged, and they're
gonna give you real-timefeedback and we can scale
together.
Right.
Um, and that's the other pieceof it is I have the ability or
my team has the ability todecide how we go to market,
right?
Do we go to market first in ahandful of clubs and online that
we know that we have a highmember base that's shopping your
(29:44):
brand today?
Um, do we start 100% onlinebecause that's the only place
that anyone has ever seen yourbrand?
Figure out who's the memberthat's buying it, where do they
live, and then where could anin-club environment look like,
right?
There is not a um playbook, ifyou will, of you have to do XYZ
when you come to market.
You literally build that withthe brand.
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
Curated, curate that to make sure not just a curated
assortment, it's curated go tomarket, curated member care.
SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
I mean, it's journey to make sure that we're putting
the very best item in the verybest place for success with our
member base.
SPEAKER_02 (30:20):
Well, I think that's an important um thing to kind of
look at.
It doesn't have to be a biggersize of a flavor that exists
elsewhere, like it can be aplace to trial.
It can be, right?
If it's it has to be on trend,it has to meet need state.
Uh, but it could be the placewhere you you you you put it in
for a little while, it blowsthrough.
Now you know something works.
(30:40):
Right.
Sam's Club and everywhere else.
SPEAKER_00 (30:42):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:43):
Right?
We're great trial grom forthings like testing and
unfolding.
SPEAKER_01 (30:46):
And you're fast.
SPEAKER_00 (30:47):
We're fast.
We are like you know, in a club,uh Sam's Club environment, like
you know very quickly if you'regonna make it or not.
SPEAKER_02 (30:55):
The first meeting I ever had at Sam's Club would
have been in like 2000.
And the buyer I was talking to,she said, we roll our sleeves up
over here.
And I've always used thatanalogy when I talked about Sam,
you know, at Walmart, you wearthe jacket, not literally, but
yeah, you wear the jacket.
Sam's you roll your sleeve upbecause you're item merchants.
Yeah.
And and it's to your point,you've only got room for a
(31:17):
hundred.
So if you're bringing in five,five have to go, it really get
kind of down and dirty.
Yeah.
That has to be fun.
SPEAKER_00 (31:25):
It's so fun.
SPEAKER_02 (31:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:27):
Uh Sam's Club um is a uh an environment of
entrepreneurship, right?
Like our merchants are literallydriving their business every
single day from the ground up.
And I think it is so fun becauseof the speed and the agility
within the framework that we getto operate in.
SPEAKER_01 (31:45):
Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (31:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:47):
It's been fun, fun to watch.
Um, I was never blessed to be inthe club.
I thought you had to graduate tobe in the club.
Some of us, I guess juststarting the club.
You've always been in the club.
Congratulations, Katie.
Thank you.
Um, but yeah, no, it's um it'sbeen awesome to work together,
awesome to find ways to innovateon behalf of the member.
It's just um, I don't know, it'sjust kind of different when
(32:09):
you're able to be selective umand and help make choices um on
purpose.
SPEAKER_00 (32:16):
Yeah.
And I I think the other coolthing about Sam's Club in
general, though, is how closelywe do work with Walmart.
SPEAKER_04 (32:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:24):
Um, we are an enterprise, and if Walmart wins,
I win.
And vice versa.
And so I I think that's theother cool thing is we can take
learnings from the Walmart side.
We can take learnings from theSam's Club side and we can
share.
Um, and we can be bettertogether.
And at SAMS, we have access toum the the enterprise and what
(32:47):
is kind of leveraged from atechnology standpoint, from a
logistics standpoint.
SPEAKER_04 (32:50):
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (32:51):
Infrastructure standpoint.
Like all of that is within ourrealm of possibility and it is
another added benefit to theways of working at SAMS.
SPEAKER_01 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Anything uh exciting that you'reable to share about like, you
know, new things.
You mentioned some, you know,expansion to express delivery
happening, or um, I'm sure thereare some members listening that
might not live in NorthwestArkansas.
Yeah.
Uh as far as like, yeah, whatwhat else is coming from Sam's?
SPEAKER_00 (33:17):
Yeah, y'all, there's a lot of exciting items coming.
Um, so over the next call it twomonths in the wellness space,
we'll have over a hundred newitems hit.
SPEAKER_04 (33:28):
No kidding.
SPEAKER_00 (33:28):
Between in club and online.
Yeah, we've got resetshappening, items are
transitioning.
Uh, so lots and lots of newitems coming.
We are continuing to focus onthe site experience right now.
We've been through um somemigrations with data and things
like that.
SPEAKER_04 (33:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
We're kind of finessing all of that now.
And so um, there's gonna be newcapabilities that roll out from
a site experience standpoint.
Delivery is only gonna getbetter, right?
Yeah.
Um, and again, club experienceis continuing to improve day in
and day out.
And I'm really proud of what theoperators are doing there to
deliver.
SPEAKER_02 (34:01):
Love that.
Yeah, and looking at thequarterly results, the it's been
there for quite a few monthsnow.
Sam's is on a roll.
SPEAKER_00 (34:08):
Yeah, the momentum is going.
Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_02 (34:10):
Well, we are approaching time.
Um, so like to end with thelightning round.
SPEAKER_00 (34:15):
Okay, let's go.
SPEAKER_02 (34:16):
So we'll start with uh with the the the evergreen.
What are you reading, listeningto, consuming right now that's
kind of informing your yourworld?
SPEAKER_00 (34:26):
Oh man.
Okay, so um this is gonna soundwell, I'm just gonna come out
with it.
So Latrice came back over andday one, she uh started talking
about the Made in America book.
Uh it and I try and read itevery year.
SPEAKER_04 (34:39):
Sam Waltons.
SPEAKER_00 (34:40):
Yeah, Sam Walton's book.
It's been a year since I readit.
So I picked that book back up uhtwo weeks ago and I am almost
finished with that.
Uh, what am I listening to?
I listen to everything.
So I think that's part of beingcurious and being a uh um
merchant at heart.
Um and so I'm all over anythingthat is a wellness podcast, I'm
all over anything that is abusiness podcast.
(35:01):
I also love a good true crimepodcast.
Like the treadmill, that's yeah,yeah, true crime seven because I
gotta like disassociate fromwhat's happening.
Yeah, um yeah.
So I think that that that's ahigh focus for me.
And then also like I am in thetrenches of just social commerce
and what's happening out there,right?
(35:21):
And so um every night from eighto'clock to nine o'clock after I
put my kids to bed, I call it myhour of life study.
Uh, and I just go check outother retailer sites.
I check out social, I check outliterally anything on my phone
that I can get my hands on andsee how people are talking about
things, what items are trending,um, what neat states are out
there.
I read Reddit a lot, things likethat.
(35:43):
Just stay curious.
SPEAKER_01 (35:44):
Love it.
Um, I get to ask the funquestion.
Uh, biggest retail blunder.
They may still be in back roomssomewhere, but being slow
through.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
Listen, I tell I tell people a lot, like, there's
no such thing as a bad item.
Uh, there's just an item forit's time.
SPEAKER_03 (36:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:00):
Uh I'll never forget.
I was the assistant buyer fortabletop and trash.
And I have been in a potterybarn.
I've been in a Williams Sonoma,which is gathering inspiration
for tabletop, and hammeredplates were in at the time.
And so I came back and I waslike, we should create a
hammered plate that's plasticand disposable.
Very elegant, like very bougie.
Um, so we did.
(36:20):
We launched it on pallett, andno one bought it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:24):
Yeah, it was gonna be huge.
SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
Yeah, it was gonna be huge.
It turns out no one bought ituntil it was like$2.91.
Yeah.
Uh and they bought all of it.
And then in turn, the core skewof a plastic plate that I had uh
sold nothing.
Yeah, yeah, right.
So I killed that business, yeah,the seasonal business.
SPEAKER_04 (36:39):
Cool, cool.
SPEAKER_00 (36:39):
Hello, Amar.
Yeah, it was uh it was anightmare.
I learned so much.
SPEAKER_04 (36:44):
Oh, bad.
SPEAKER_00 (36:44):
Sometimes just because it's a trend to mean
that the is gonna purchase it.
Uh, and again, that's thebalance of curation, right?
Like that was a first in-classexample of do we need two
plastic plates at Sam's Club?
We sure don't.
SPEAKER_02 (36:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Um but you just don't you don'tlearn on a win, yeah, on a fail.
SPEAKER_00 (37:01):
Yeah, and get better.
I also didn't ask the member,right?
Like I didn't sit back and say,is there an actual demand for
this in a plastic plate?
I didn't go back to the member.
That was miss number one.
Yeah, and so ironically enough,the the senior buyer that I
worked for at the time, hegifted me at my wedding a pack
of hammered plates.
Come on, he got it at the Sam'sClub for two dollars.
SPEAKER_01 (37:23):
That's it for a great, great price.
That's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00 (37:26):
Yeah, so that was that was a humbling experience.
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
So awesome.
I love that.
And then just to wrap it up, youknow, what are you looking
forward to over the next year orthe next 12 months?
What what's uh you know whatbeyond your day-to-day passions
of people product and innovationand innovation, PPIs, what what
are some things in the next yearthat you know have you pretty
juiced?
SPEAKER_00 (37:47):
Yeah, y'all, I'm so excited about the Ron Sam's Club
is on.
I think that the way we arechanging the game from an item
standpoint, the way that we aredelivering a frictionless
experience for the member andthen the people that we have
working on this.
Like I we had an item paradeyesterday, and I got to sit back
and listen to probably 30 itemsgo up on stage and just talk
about the why behind the itemand what it was solving for.
(38:10):
And I cannot wait for ourmembers to walk down the aisles.
SPEAKER_04 (38:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:13):
Um, but on the flip side, I also can't wait for more
brands to come and talk to us,right?
Because our members are hungryfor new brands and they're
hungry for a broad for a not abroad assortment, they're hungry
for an assortment that solves umproblems for them in the retail
environment.
And Sam's Club can do that.
And so I'm just really, reallyexcited about that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:33):
Yeah, for the brands that are like maybe on the edge
or like this might be worth theconversation.
Like, what what steps shouldthey take?
SPEAKER_00 (38:40):
Yeah, I think they should absolutely reach out to
us, right?
Whether that's on LinkedIn,whether that's an email,
however, whatever format thatlooks like, but we'd love to
have conversations.
SPEAKER_01 (38:48):
Yeah.
I think there's just a beliefout there of like not available.
It's like, no, are you kiddingme?
We're always hunting.
We are always this is like we'rewe're trying to serve the
member.
Like this is what we're herefor.
SPEAKER_00 (38:58):
We are.
We want to talk to brands,right?
Because we know, again, we'relistening to our members, we
know exactly what they're askingfor.
And so it's up to us to go findthe thing and bring it to life.
SPEAKER_01 (39:10):
So we post this short, yeah, like reply.
SPEAKER_00 (39:13):
Reply, send it out.
Reply.
Awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (39:16):
Thanks for being here, Katie.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02 (39:19):
This is great.
Really enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00 (39:20):
I love this.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (39:22):
Yeah, thank you.
And thank you all for listening.
Uh, as always, you can find allof our episodes on our website
at highimpactanalytics.com orwherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Retail Journey podcast.
I'm one of your hosts, CharlesGreathouse.
SPEAKER_02 (00:12):
And I am James Harris.
And today we are talking toKatie Whitmeyer from Sam's Club.
Katie.
Hi.
Welcome to the Retail Journey.
SPEAKER_00 (00:21):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited about this.
SPEAKER_01 (00:24):
Yes.
Glad you could be here.
Um, you've had an interestingjourney across retail, if you
would, but would love to hear alittle bit about you before we
get started.
SPEAKER_00 (00:34):
Yeah.
Uh so first and foremost, I am amom.
Uh two very precious, very wild,tiny little children at home,
six and three.
Um, my husband and I live innorthwest Arkansas.
I'm actually a bit of a unicornin that I was born here.
SPEAKER_04 (00:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (00:49):
And I grew up in this and essentially only ever
worked at Sam's Club.
Uh and so really, yeah, I'm aloyalist.
Let's go.
Um, so I have the privilege andhonor of leading the wellness
space for Sam's Club, whichencompasses HBA, OTC, and baby.
Um, I have an absolutelybrilliant team and I've come up
through merchandising.
So I got to do things like I wasa pharmacy technician in the
(01:12):
local club.
SPEAKER_01 (01:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:13):
Um, I worked in Wine and Spirits, which is a really
fun category.
SPEAKER_01 (01:16):
I bet.
Yeah.
Uh I got to circle back to that.
SPEAKER_00 (01:19):
Come back to that.
Uh I got to learn about trashbags with the retail legend Tom
Kinzer.
So that was amazing.
Got to do some finance planning.
That was that was a time.
Yeah.
Uh, and then have kind of beenin the OTC and wellness space
ever since.
SPEAKER_01 (01:32):
Excellent.
SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
Finance planning, that was a time.
All right.
Yeah, that was a time.
unknown (01:37):
I learned a lot.
SPEAKER_00 (01:38):
I learned it was great.
It was actually, so it was oneof the hardest uh jobs that I've
ever had.
Not because I had to learn howto do a budget and that type of
thing, like retail math, you youfigure it out, right?
Um, but it was a different typeof leading.
You had to figure out how tolead uh without any actual
power.
SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
Kind of cross-brims.
SPEAKER_00 (01:57):
You want to own the PM?
Right.
I just support the people thatown the P.
Uh and so that was a transitionfor me.
But it's it taught me a lotabout communication, it taught
me a lot about uhcross-functional ways of
working, and I think ultimatelymade me a much better merchant.
SPEAKER_02 (02:10):
Well, a big part of leading is is influencing.
Yep.
And if you can learn toinfluence when you don't have
authority, you can definitelylead what you have if you have.
SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
On the uh the Walmart side, that's why they
made all the merchant trainingprograms.
You ended as a uh planninganalyst, um, which is you know
the the lowest of the totempool, zero decision rights, just
influence, focused on what thePL says about the decisions that
are being made.
That was an intentional moveback in the day.
(02:40):
I think they land in associatemerchant roles now, but I uh I
don't think I wanted that at thetime, but yes, relish the
ability relish the ability tolike just influence, no decision
rights whatsoever.
SPEAKER_00 (02:53):
Hey, like I remember there's the this I had an
absolutely brilliant merchantthat I supported.
Yeah, um, she'd been doing itfor a very long time, and she uh
she's from the Northeast, so shewas just very direct in
everything that she did.
I'll never forget having to tellher you can't go buy this item.
You don't have any open to buycrossing.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (03:10):
Clothes to buy.
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
And she looked at me and she was like, no.
Yeah, okay.
Um, so I went back to my deskand I was like, how do I go back
and do this?
Right.
And so that quickly was like,okay, if I can get an operations
perspective of like, where areyou gonna put this, right?
If I can get a liabilityperspective of you're
jeopardizing, you're notmaximizing the sales that you
get on this because it doesn'thave space.
SPEAKER_01 (03:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:35):
Um, and come back with the actual plan instead of
just a product.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (03:39):
Maybe I will have a better outcome, right?
And so I came back and Iactually had a solution that
time.
Yes, and it was a wildlydifferent conversation.
And she saw value in that, andthen we were partners in it,
right?
And so not only was Iaccountable to helping her make
the space and do the buy, butnow you know she was on the hook
and we had a plan.
So it taught me that's a greatlesson.
SPEAKER_02 (03:59):
Oh wow.
So good, very humbling, alsohard, very hard.
Yeah, so you're a loyalist.
Yes, you only worked at Sam'sClub.
SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
I'm leaving at Sam's.
SPEAKER_02 (04:08):
I have to assume this is your favorite job.
SPEAKER_00 (04:10):
This is my favorite job.
SPEAKER_02 (04:11):
So what uh pulls you out of bed every morning, gets
you so excited about this job.
SPEAKER_00 (04:16):
Yeah, okay.
Uh so first and foremost, myteam.
Like, I have the privilege ofworking with the most diverse,
most brilliant group of peopleum that I've ever come in
contact with.
And so I get really jazzed aboutthat because if you ask what
motivates me, it's people,product, and innovation.
SPEAKER_04 (04:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (04:32):
Um, I uh I love change.
Uh, change is hard, but I thinkchange forces us all to think
differently and do differentthings.
SPEAKER_02 (04:40):
Change could also be fun.
SPEAKER_00 (04:41):
It's so fun.
There's so much energy in thisspace right now and just in
retail in general, and youreally can reinvent yourself if
you have this appetite forchange and you have this ability
to be agile, right?
And then I'm very peoplemotivated.
Like people, um people inspireme, people challenge me, people
develop me and grow me.
(05:02):
And so anything that I can do tointeract with other people
throughout the day is where I'mgonna spend my time and how I'm
gonna get my energy.
SPEAKER_04 (05:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
Uh, and then I just love retail.
Like when I was a buyer, Iremember walking down the aisles
and like my buy plan was like myfamily album.
I love that attached to theseitems that you pour your heart
and soul into to see a memberrespond and react.
Like it's personal, and it evenif they don't like it, right?
I want to know why you don'tlike that, right?
(05:29):
How can I make it better?
Because I know what the intentis and I know what the capacity
of the retail environment isright now, and I just want to
serve people.
SPEAKER_01 (05:38):
Yeah, yeah.
So that's cool.
And in this kind of space, likeyou're serving families in a
significant way, you're servingpeople, helping them feel
better, right?
Um, giving them a delight or atreat that they might not have
expected, obviously surprisingthem with value and simple
savings or yeah, whatever thecurrent savings instant.
Obviously, it's instant, besimple.
(05:59):
Um and yeah, so that's I mean,that's really fun.
Yeah, love that.
SPEAKER_00 (06:03):
Yeah, I uh I'm manual.
Like it is so cool personallywhen your professional side um
overlays with your personalmachine so well.
Yeah, and Sam's Club for mefeels like home.
Um, I had the opportunity to bea legacy Sam's Club child.
Uh so I very much remember beinguh in elementary school on a
(06:24):
flatbed on a Saturday with mydad as he did club talk club
tours.
Um and then oh awesome.
Yeah, like so.
Retail for me, day one, was kindof ingrained in the blood.
SPEAKER_01 (06:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:34):
Um, and I never just looked at orange juice as orange
juice.
SPEAKER_01 (06:37):
Right.
Um so that was never ruined foryou.
It was just never normal.
There was always strategy behindthe mod.
SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
Right.
But normal was like, well, whydoes this look interesting?
SPEAKER_01 (06:46):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:47):
Why do I want to buy this?
Right, like the shopperpsychology piece always really
interested.
SPEAKER_01 (06:51):
That's such a different perspective.
It is like I remember whenshopping was ruined for me
because it went from I'm justlooking for things I want to, I
wonder why they did that.
Yeah.
I wanted you, oh, that'sinteresting.
Oh, you must be trying to.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:05):
Yeah, y'all, my friends and family will not go
to the store with me.
SPEAKER_01 (07:09):
Like any yeah, for sure.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (07:11):
They're like, you are not on a mission.
SPEAKER_01 (07:13):
Doing it for them.
SPEAKER_00 (07:14):
Yeah, like you just constantly want to look at
things, yeah, critique things,and ask why about things.
And they're like, it's not acuriosity event.
This is a shopping event.
Yeah, like we are gonna buythings.
SPEAKER_02 (07:25):
It's so funny.
So your your everyday members,people that are that come in and
Sam's every week or two, they'reused to this, but maybe a few
people listening are Sam's Clubdoes really well with new.
SPEAKER_04 (07:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (07:39):
Right?
Yeah.
Um, I had the opportunity thismorning, about an hour, and uh
so I spent some time in theBentonville Club.
SPEAKER_00 (07:46):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (07:47):
And I don't want to compare one department to
another, but I did walk thewhole store, and there's so much
more new in wellness than inmany other places.
Now, maybe that's where a lot ofthe trends are, right?
Collagen and uh uh you knowdifferent different things that
are happening at the same time.
Talk about your kind ofphilosophy behind new and you
(08:09):
know what that means to themember, what that means to well,
to Sam's.
SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
Yeah, uh, so my philosophy is more newness more
often, right?
Um, and and I think it's assimple as that.
Our members pay to shop with us,and they don't pay for
necessarily they very simplysaid, they pay because of an
item, right?
They pay to shop with us becausewe have the very best item at
the very best value.
(08:35):
And then they keep coming backbecause we've figured out a way
to remove the friction and we'remaniacal about what that
experience is and how do wedrive excellence at every point
in that journey, right?
Um, wellness, I keep telling myteam, wellness is on the
precipice of greatness.
Uh, it's one of the top fivethings on our members' minds
when they walk in.
And when you look at it, thewellness space is actually um
(08:57):
setting the stage for what'shappening in functional food and
bev.
People have known about collagenand they've known about protein
for a long time in the wellnessspace.
And now you're seeing it migrateinto chips, into bars, into
yogurts, right?
SPEAKER_02 (09:10):
The protein into everything.
SPEAKER_00 (09:11):
It's in everything, right?
And fiber's next.
And so um I take greatresponsibility in making sure
that the wellness space at Sam'sClub delivers really great
treasure hunt type experiencesfor our members that keep them
on the cutting edge of what'snew, what's emerging, with the
best quality and valueproposition that they can find
anywhere in the market.
(09:32):
And the beauty of it is we're acurated environment.
And so you don't have to walk amillion aisles with a million
items to try and figure outwhat's the best of the best
bypassing.
SPEAKER_02 (09:41):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
There's only one, maybe two on the shelf.
I had that hard choice for you.
SPEAKER_02 (09:46):
I had that impression in the main kind of
aisle of wellness where you'vegot collagen products and
creatine products.
And um, I thought I bet the thepercentage of new here is
greater than not just otherparts of the club, but really
anywhere because you have such areduced skew count.
SPEAKER_04 (10:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:04):
Um, a really large percentage of it can surprise
you every couple weeks.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
Yeah.
I'll tell you, the the whole boxis doing a great job though.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:12):
Right?
No, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (10:13):
The entire box is really maniacally focused on
items right now and how muchmore newness is in the market
compared to three years ago isinsane.
Yeah.
And all boats rise when thewaters rise.
And so I think what you'reseeing from Sam's Club is we're
really ambitious to give membersreasons to come down the aisle
and explore and find great itemsand find great solutions for
(10:36):
different need states that theyhave, right?
And wellness, uh, we have a jokeinternally, and we say like
wellness technically is skewintensive because it's need
state intensive.
SPEAKER_03 (10:47):
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (10:47):
Like I have to cover everything from your headache to
your multivitamin to your herbsand supplementation, all the way
down to your band-aids.
Yeah.
Right.
And that's just a vastassortment and we head to toe.
Um, and it's a privilege, but italso makes it a little bit
complex.
And for the average personthat's not engaged consistently
(11:09):
with a healthcare professionalor anything like that, it's a
very intimidating space.
Yeah.
And so it's our job, and it'salso the the kind of unique
asset that Sams Club has is thatwe're a curated environment.
And so again, we drivesimplicity by only having a
couple of options per meatstakefor that member.
SPEAKER_01 (11:27):
They're just the best.
SPEAKER_00 (11:28):
They're the best of the best.
SPEAKER_01 (11:29):
The best options, the best of the best.
That's uh and that takes a lotof knowing.
It does.
I mean, you must be curious.
We talked about how you shop andyou're not fun to shop with.
If you're not also curious,you're just trying to buy stuff,
like, yeah, no, this isn't gonnabe fun for you.
Yeah, but if like talk to usabout like, I don't know, where
does that come from?
(11:49):
And and I don't know, ifsomeone's out there, maybe
they're buying, maybe they're inthe supplier world.
Like, how would you encouragethem to really take curiosity on
behalf of the member with them?
Like, yeah, what does that looklike?
SPEAKER_00 (12:03):
I think uh about a couple of things.
Number one, you have to bemember obsessed at Sam's Club.
Like, I have to care about everysingle component of the member's
interaction with an item andtheir experience, right?
Um, I have to constantly becurious.
Um, we Latrice is really her bigtake right now, Latrice is our
(12:24):
CEO, and her big take right nowis ask for more and what's your
more?
Right.
And what we did yesterday is notgood enough for today.
And so even if we have a greatitem on the shelf, my team is
going back and saying, like, howcan I make this better?
What's next in the evolution ofthis?
Um, and I think that curiosityis gonna be what sets a good
(12:44):
merchant apart from a greatmerchant.
Um, and you know, the world isnever gonna be as slow again as
it is today.
And so if that's crazy to thinkabout the future, right, then
we're gonna be part of the leftbehind series.
SPEAKER_02 (12:56):
Yeah.
So you kind of lean in therewhere you know items are a big
focus.
Um companies, suppliers bringitems, right?
Yes.
Um what's yeah, uh so we couldwe kind of break down about
50-50 of people that work inretail, people that work uh on
the CPG side of things that thatlisten.
(13:18):
Um how what what's what's bestcase?
What are you looking for in asupplier where you say, oh, that
this is somebody I can workwith, I could partner with.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
Yeah.
Um brands can be built at SamsClub, right?
And I think there's thishistorical notion of I've got to
be X percent of the marketbefore I can come and enter the
club channel.
Yeah, that's not the case,right?
And our members pay to shop withus because of items.
And if we can present an itemthat takes care of a need state
(13:50):
for a member at an incrediblevalue, they're gonna buy it.
SPEAKER_04 (13:53):
Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_00 (13:54):
And so as I think about what makes a really great
supplier relationship, numberone, they're strategic.
It's not transactional.
If all we're doing istransacting a PO, then we're not
serving the member to the bestof our ability, right?
Yeah.
And what being strategic reallymeans is number one, you're
transparent.
Um I have to know what you knowand you have to know what I know
(14:16):
so that we can be um alignedfrom the beginning and we can
stay aligned throughout thejourney.
SPEAKER_04 (14:22):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (14:22):
The other thing is they have to be as maniacal
about my member as I am, right?
They have to consider the item,the family album, like I do, and
they have to be as passionateabout that.
And then I think the third thingis they have to have a growth
mindset.
Um, we are a growth retailer andwe are focused on growth and
they have to do that as well.
And they have to think aboutthings like capacity, they have
(14:43):
to think about scale, right?
Um, they have to think abouthominy.
You have to have a digital firstmindset, right?
And those things, while verysimple and and elementary,
really are the steps for successfor a great partnership.
SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
In your category, especially that digital first,
there's a lot of things toresearch.
Yeah.
Right.
Especially if you're if you'realready taking, these are my
five supplements I take everyday.
And I'm gonna, I really want totry this sixth thing, but it
doesn't overlap.
There's a lot of opportunity forresearch.
Do you see that on the site?
SPEAKER_00 (15:15):
Oh, absolutely, right?
Um, and it's both a an excitingthing and a kind of a scary
thing, right?
Um, there are less and lesspeople that we are considering
medically motivated, meaningthey've had an engagement with a
healthcare provider coming downthe aisle than ever before
because preventative wellnessisn't arise.
SPEAKER_04 (15:34):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (15:34):
Everybody wants to live a healthier life.
And if I can make one small steptoday that keeps me out of a
chronic condition down the road,why would I not do that?
SPEAKER_04 (15:43):
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (15:44):
Um, and so members are looking for information
everywhere that they go andthey're being inundated all the
time with information.
It can be their neighbor Susie,it can be Betsy on social media,
it can be this TikTok influencerthat they just saw, right?
And so I think that's againwhere a credible retailer like
Sam's Cloud becomes reallyvaluable because they trust us,
(16:05):
right?
And they know we're not gonnaput something out there that's
not efficacious or that hasn'tbeen vetted.
And so really it's up to us thento make the complex simple.
How do I take all these reallymassive, you know, uh and
compelling claims about all thethings that this might treat and
really boil it down to say, hey,this might help with XYZ.
(16:26):
You take it like this from adosage standpoint, and this is
the regimen, right?
Um, and if we can, if we can bevery thoughtful about making the
complex simple and we can makeit easy for the member, that's
how we're gonna win.
And that's how we'll berelatable in this world of noise
to your point where you couldeasily end up with 45 different
things as part of your morningregimen.
SPEAKER_01 (16:47):
Yeah, right.
I think we, you know, we weoften talk about um, you know,
we're in Betonville, the theland of Walmart.
I have not too many people startoff with Bettonville, the land
of Sam's Club.
Um, I think we're gonna startsaying, you know, we support
Sam's Club and Walmart insteadof L Mart and Sam's Club.
We love Sam's Club.
Well, we we love Sam's Club.
It's been uh it's been reallyfun, and it's been fun to watch,
(17:09):
you know, differentenvironments, different
categories, differentdepartments, and and the ways
that people bring things tolife, but it's clear that the
member trusts what the whatSam's Club says, this is the
best.
Um in the rest of the e-commerceworld, it isn't this is the
(17:30):
best.
It's this is all the things.
Um I um I take quite a bit ofsupplements as a recovering
vitamin merchant.
Um and so I I believe in it andI take them and I and I love
them.
Um and I have have died insidewhen some of the Spring Valley
private brand items I createdhave been you know discontinued
(17:53):
or changed.
It's like, no, my formula.
Like that was awesome.
Why didn't we change this?
It's gone.
Um that's fine.
But I have a hard time.
Um now that I've been uhpromoted to customer from uh
Walmart Inc., my wife and Idon't argue about shopping on
Amazon as much.
(18:13):
Like I certainly like let'sstart with Walmart.
Please can we start?
SPEAKER_04 (18:17):
Please.
SPEAKER_01 (18:17):
Like, do you know what I do for a living?
Let's start here.
This is Bentonville, come on.
Um, but there's still some timeswhere it's like, okay, Amazon,
okay, it's fine, whatever.
Uh supplements, absolutely not.
Like you can't just buysomething on Amazon, you don't
know where that thing came from.
It's it's hard and it's gettingmore complex.
This marketplace thing hasbecome really complex.
(18:38):
I'm interested in the land ofyou know, eternally long tail
assortment, and you're selectiveand omnichannel.
What's the role of e-commerce?
Like, help people think throughlike this isn't about an
eternally long tail.
Right.
Like, what does the e-commerceat Sam's Club mean for the
member?
SPEAKER_00 (18:56):
Yeah, it still has to be curated, right?
I mean, yeah.
Based on behavior, that theydon't go past the first page um
the bulk of the time.
SPEAKER_02 (19:05):
Most of the time, not the first.
SPEAKER_00 (19:06):
Yeah, right.
Like it still has to be acurated environment.
Um, but we also have to becognizant of the the shopper
psychology behind how theyinteract with e-commerce, right?
And the member doesn't thinkabout it in terms of a channel,
right?
They think of it in terms of aum shopping experience, right?
And I need a certain product andI need it in this time frame and
(19:29):
I need it this way.
And that's gonna dictate do I goin club, do I go online, do I
have it delivered, right?
Is it okay to ship to my home?
Like all of those are ourdecision points kind of in that
model.
And as we think about the roleof e-commerce, it is the fastest
growing channel by far and away.
It's also where we can do areally great job from a reach
(19:51):
perspective.
Our clubs are curated, right?
And um, a member in Florida doesnot behave the same way as a
member in California sometimes,right?
Does not behave the same way asa member in the Northeast,
right?
And so to come into a club is avery um, very tough thing to do.
(20:12):
Um, because we have to make abig bet from a productivity
standpoint and you know it's onein, one out kind of mentality.
To come in online, what we canactually do is we can put it in
front of a member where theywould expect to find it, and we
can figure out who the member isthat's gonna buy this, right?
And then we can take thoselearnings and maybe expand into
club from there.
(20:33):
But I have way more traffic inclub.
I mean, the largest club is onyour is in your hand.
SPEAKER_04 (20:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:39):
Right.
And if you think about it likethat, that changes the game
because everybody, nobody wouldsay, I don't want to be in the
largest club.
SPEAKER_04 (20:44):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (20:45):
Right.
And so when you think about thatand you think about the size of
it, um, dot com represents asignificant number of clubs
volume for us.
And so when you go online andyou have a curated environment,
you can really kind of build abasket the way that you want
that basket to be.
We can tell the member morecontent about what the item is
(21:06):
and why of it.
We can show them inspiringimages.
Like I can show you toothpastewith a toothbrush with floss.
Yeah, I can show you the entirethree-piece system.
SPEAKER_01 (21:16):
The whole thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
Wow, and then you might say, Okay, well, I didn't
have floss on my list, but now Ihave floss on my list.
Yeah, right.
So that's a better experience.
SPEAKER_01 (21:22):
Dentists around the country are just celebrating
your ability to regimen theseguys.
Come on.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
Is on fire, which is also the barometer of your
health and your body.
So oral health is very, but youcan also see reviews from
members about products, and Ithink that's really important
too, is I want to control thestory that's different kind of
verification going on with Sam'sClub reviews.
SPEAKER_01 (21:48):
It is it carries weight.
SPEAKER_00 (21:49):
Right.
Like you know, these are peoplejust like you that paid to be
here, right?
SPEAKER_02 (21:52):
That's interesting.
And none of them are paid forbecause they couldn't be there
were they not a member thatbought the product.
SPEAKER_00 (21:59):
Right.
Syndicate some reviews.
And so there is some syndicationout there, but it's on brains or
items that are at SamsCloud.
SPEAKER_04 (22:07):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
So you know that it's real and you know that it's
a usage.
Um, and I think that's reallyimportant just as you go through
the validation and the trustagain behind the quality of why
the item is there.
SPEAKER_02 (22:17):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
So going back to suppliers alittle bit, um, so you kind of
explained these this is what youlook for in a great partner.
What about that company thatsays or has thought Sam's wasn't
an option?
And now they're hearing Sam's isan option.
How do they think about how tobring value to something that
(22:39):
sells in mass?
Uh, how to think about puttingthat into a club environment?
SPEAKER_00 (22:44):
Yeah.
So our members tell us very sowe have a thing called uh our
members mark community.
Um, and it's live, it's a membercommunity where we can go out
and ask them about products, wecan ask them about experiences,
we can be like, how do youdefine value?
Right.
So they tell us very directly,uh, which is great.
(23:04):
And uh part of that goes back tothat member obsession.
We literally are that obsessedthat we're listening to that
level of detail from ourmembers.
And when they define value,price is very important, twice
as important as anything else,right?
Um, but they also define valueas quality and experience.
Yeah.
And so they give us credit forthe quality.
SPEAKER_02 (23:25):
Experience in club or experience with the product?
Both, both.
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:29):
Any touch point of experience.
Like how was the packaging whenI arrived at the shelf?
Or how did it arrive to me if itwas shipped to my house, right?
SPEAKER_04 (23:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:38):
Um, does it tell me what it needs to do?
Does it, you know, not spill ifit's a gummy vitamin?
Do the gummies not all clump upat the bottom and then I can't
get my hand through the top ofthe jar, right?
All of those things.
And then did I have to wait inline?
Because I didn't have scan andgo, which you should have scan
and go.
Um, use that scan and go.
Yeah, that's time is money, andthat takes away from the value
(24:01):
equation for us.
And so all any touch point thatthe member has goes into that
experience metric that weevaluate and they contribute
value to.
SPEAKER_02 (24:09):
When you mentioned scan and go, I'm glad because I
was going to bring it up becauseit is one of the smartest things
I've ever seen a retailer do.
Um and just my personalexperience with it, I'm a little
bit slow with technology, alittle bit of a late adapter.
So I was in a club shopping oneday, and just for years, you
know, you go to the thing andyou check out, right?
(24:30):
So it was since um Scan a Go asan option.
I'm standing there, it wasaround Christmas, around the
holidays.
Uh every line was pretty backedup, and I and that I remembered.
And I pulled up the app, scannedall the stuff in my cart, and
just walked out and never havetouched a register.
So did you it's amazing, it'sbeautiful.
SPEAKER_00 (24:51):
You walk into other retailers and you're like, wait,
what?
I have to wait.
SPEAKER_01 (24:54):
Exactly.
SPEAKER_00 (24:55):
Like that's not optimal, right?
SPEAKER_01 (24:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and the delivery's umimpressive.
Like it's it works really well.
Now I'm in Benville.
So I don't know.
Maybe, maybe we're really,really good here.
We're expanding, but like, boy,are we good?
SPEAKER_00 (25:08):
We're expanding.
Yes, we're expanding expressdelivery.
Uh, there's a lot of excitingthings.
You think about the the beautyof Sam's Club.
I mean, imagine it's threeo'clock in the afternoon and
you're like, I did not makedinner plans.
It is my wife's birthday.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
Um, you're in a bad way.
SPEAKER_00 (25:25):
Yeah, and guess what?
I'm out of XYZ, right?
You can get dinner delivered,you can have a great ready meal
solution.
SPEAKER_02 (25:32):
Whether it doesn't look like it came from fast
food.
SPEAKER_00 (25:34):
That doesn't look like it, yeah.
It came from fast food, right?
Like it's real qualityingredients at an incredible
value.
You can get her a diamondnecklace, uh, and then you can
get your multivitamins in yourtoothpaste.
SPEAKER_02 (25:45):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:46):
Same order.
SPEAKER_02 (25:46):
Well, if I've got a sick kid, and it can be in your
home.
And your sauna.
That was where I got hung uptoday.
I had a hard time moving pastthe the barrel sauna.
SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
This belongs in my bag.
SPEAKER_04 (25:58):
Yeah, it does.
SPEAKER_01 (25:59):
I mean, it's just it's awkward when I go in in my
swimsuit with a towel, but otherthan that, that's great.
They frown on that again.
Yeah, no sampling the sauna inthe club.
You know, it's sure.
SPEAKER_04 (26:10):
Yeah, sauna is incredible.
SPEAKER_01 (26:11):
Yeah, yeah.
Awesome.
I love that so much.
Um, I mean, the uh ability to bevery much item-centric and to
celebrate a really coolinnovation on behalf of your
member.
Um, last time I saw you was atExpo West, one of the craziest
trade shows on the planet,Natural Product Expo.
You know, thousands ofexhibitors, so much to see.
(26:33):
A lot of those, I wonder whatthe conversations you had were
like, but are they thinkingabout a curated assortment as
part of their their go-to-marketstrategy?
Like what is it?
How would you how would youspeak to those entrepreneurs
about guys?
Listen, what you're thinkingabout when you think of Sam's
Club might not be what Sam'sClub is today.
SPEAKER_00 (26:51):
Yeah, yeah.
I think uh so Sam's Club in thepast, right?
Um, we've but we've been on ajourney.
And I think where we're at todayis very different from where
we've been in a positive way.
Like we are maniacally focusedon items and we care a whole
heck of a lot about what theexperience is behind that item
and how our member interactswith it.
(27:13):
And so when I went to Expo, likeI'm talking to um, let's use a
toothpaste example, right?
Um, there was a natural caretoothpaste brand that we were
talking to.
And she was like, Yeah, we're,you know, we're coming off of
our D2C, we're thinking aboutretail, we don't really have an
idea of where we want to go yet.
SPEAKER_02 (27:30):
And I said, Sam's would be perfect.
SPEAKER_00 (27:31):
Have you thought about the club channel and Sam's
Club?
And she was like, Yeah, butdon't I have to be, you know,
20% of the market before I canhave a conversation?
I was like, absolutely not.
Like you have a and so ourmembers are um obsessed with
better free products.
And it's something that we'vedone a brilliant job from a
members mark standpoint with ourmade without lists and things
(27:53):
like that.
Um, and so our members areexpecting higher quality from us
in the beginning, right?
And we have members asking everyday for alternatives that are
better free that don't have thedyes, the fillers, all of the
things.
And so I was able to stand therewith her and be like, I've heard
directly from our members thatthey want a solution like this.
SPEAKER_04 (28:09):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (28:09):
Right.
And so it's really up to us tofigure out how do we bring this
to life, if this is the rightbrand in the right time.
And actually, when you thinkabout coming to retail and you
start with club, it's a wholelot easier to design price pack
architecture because I can tellyou what a club pack would look
like that makes sense for ourmembers.
And then you can architect downfrom there what a retail pack
(28:32):
might look like and what a, youknow, a beginning a sample pack
might look like.
And what that allows you to dois come into club with a pack
size that's conducive for themember at a price point that
they're willing to pay for,right?
Um, sometimes what happens ifbrands wait too long to do the
hard work of price packarchitecture on the front side,
we get pack sizes that are justnever going to make sense for my
(28:54):
member, right?
And that's really hard.
And so I think from afundamental item build
standpoint, that's a benefit.
The second piece of this is I'mcurated.
And so there are a handful oftoothpaste skews on my shelves
today.
And so you have the opportunityto come in and potentially be
100% of the assortment for anatural, better for you
(29:16):
toothpaste.
SPEAKER_01 (29:17):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (29:18):
That's pretty compelling, right?
SPEAKER_01 (29:20):
To a significant member base that's engaged.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
Large member base that's engaged, and they're
gonna give you real-timefeedback and we can scale
together.
Right.
Um, and that's the other pieceof it is I have the ability or
my team has the ability todecide how we go to market,
right?
Do we go to market first in ahandful of clubs and online that
we know that we have a highmember base that's shopping your
(29:44):
brand today?
Um, do we start 100% onlinebecause that's the only place
that anyone has ever seen yourbrand?
Figure out who's the memberthat's buying it, where do they
live, and then where could anin-club environment look like,
right?
There is not a um playbook, ifyou will, of you have to do XYZ
when you come to market.
You literally build that withthe brand.
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
Curated, curate that to make sure not just a curated
assortment, it's curated go tomarket, curated member care.
SPEAKER_00 (30:12):
I mean, it's journey to make sure that we're putting
the very best item in the verybest place for success with our
member base.
SPEAKER_02 (30:20):
Well, I think that's an important um thing to kind of
look at.
It doesn't have to be a biggersize of a flavor that exists
elsewhere, like it can be aplace to trial.
It can be, right?
If it's it has to be on trend,it has to meet need state.
Uh, but it could be the placewhere you you you you put it in
for a little while, it blowsthrough.
Now you know something works.
(30:40):
Right.
Sam's Club and everywhere else.
SPEAKER_00 (30:42):
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (30:42):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (30:43):
Right?
We're great trial grom forthings like testing and
unfolding.
SPEAKER_01 (30:46):
And you're fast.
SPEAKER_00 (30:47):
We're fast.
We are like you know, in a club,uh Sam's Club environment, like
you know very quickly if you'regonna make it or not.
SPEAKER_02 (30:55):
The first meeting I ever had at Sam's Club would
have been in like 2000.
And the buyer I was talking to,she said, we roll our sleeves up
over here.
And I've always used thatanalogy when I talked about Sam,
you know, at Walmart, you wearthe jacket, not literally, but
yeah, you wear the jacket.
Sam's you roll your sleeve upbecause you're item merchants.
Yeah.
And and it's to your point,you've only got room for a
(31:17):
hundred.
So if you're bringing in five,five have to go, it really get
kind of down and dirty.
Yeah.
That has to be fun.
SPEAKER_00 (31:25):
It's so fun.
SPEAKER_02 (31:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:27):
Uh Sam's Club um is a uh an environment of
entrepreneurship, right?
Like our merchants are literallydriving their business every
single day from the ground up.
And I think it is so fun becauseof the speed and the agility
within the framework that we getto operate in.
SPEAKER_01 (31:45):
Yeah, it's awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (31:46):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (31:47):
It's been fun, fun to watch.
Um, I was never blessed to be inthe club.
I thought you had to graduate tobe in the club.
Some of us, I guess juststarting the club.
You've always been in the club.
Congratulations, Katie.
Thank you.
Um, but yeah, no, it's um it'sbeen awesome to work together,
awesome to find ways to innovateon behalf of the member.
It's just um, I don't know, it'sjust kind of different when
(32:09):
you're able to be selective umand and help make choices um on
purpose.
SPEAKER_00 (32:16):
Yeah.
And I I think the other coolthing about Sam's Club in
general, though, is how closelywe do work with Walmart.
SPEAKER_04 (32:23):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:24):
Um, we are an enterprise, and if Walmart wins,
I win.
And vice versa.
And so I I think that's theother cool thing is we can take
learnings from the Walmart side.
We can take learnings from theSam's Club side and we can
share.
Um, and we can be bettertogether.
And at SAMS, we have access toum the the enterprise and what
(32:47):
is kind of leveraged from atechnology standpoint, from a
logistics standpoint.
SPEAKER_04 (32:50):
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00 (32:51):
Infrastructure standpoint.
Like all of that is within ourrealm of possibility and it is
another added benefit to theways of working at SAMS.
SPEAKER_01 (33:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Anything uh exciting that you'reable to share about like, you
know, new things.
You mentioned some, you know,expansion to express delivery
happening, or um, I'm sure thereare some members listening that
might not live in NorthwestArkansas.
Yeah.
Uh as far as like, yeah, whatwhat else is coming from Sam's?
SPEAKER_00 (33:17):
Yeah, y'all, there's a lot of exciting items coming.
Um, so over the next call it twomonths in the wellness space,
we'll have over a hundred newitems hit.
SPEAKER_04 (33:28):
No kidding.
SPEAKER_00 (33:28):
Between in club and online.
Yeah, we've got resetshappening, items are
transitioning.
Uh, so lots and lots of newitems coming.
We are continuing to focus onthe site experience right now.
We've been through um somemigrations with data and things
like that.
SPEAKER_04 (33:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:43):
We're kind of finessing all of that now.
And so um, there's gonna be newcapabilities that roll out from
a site experience standpoint.
Delivery is only gonna getbetter, right?
Yeah.
Um, and again, club experienceis continuing to improve day in
and day out.
And I'm really proud of what theoperators are doing there to
deliver.
SPEAKER_02 (34:01):
Love that.
Yeah, and looking at thequarterly results, the it's been
there for quite a few monthsnow.
Sam's is on a roll.
SPEAKER_00 (34:08):
Yeah, the momentum is going.
Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_02 (34:10):
Well, we are approaching time.
Um, so like to end with thelightning round.
SPEAKER_00 (34:15):
Okay, let's go.
SPEAKER_02 (34:16):
So we'll start with uh with the the the evergreen.
What are you reading, listeningto, consuming right now that's
kind of informing your yourworld?
SPEAKER_00 (34:26):
Oh man.
Okay, so um this is gonna soundwell, I'm just gonna come out
with it.
So Latrice came back over andday one, she uh started talking
about the Made in America book.
Uh it and I try and read itevery year.
SPEAKER_04 (34:39):
Sam Waltons.
SPEAKER_00 (34:40):
Yeah, Sam Walton's book.
It's been a year since I readit.
So I picked that book back up uhtwo weeks ago and I am almost
finished with that.
Uh, what am I listening to?
I listen to everything.
So I think that's part of beingcurious and being a uh um
merchant at heart.
Um and so I'm all over anythingthat is a wellness podcast, I'm
all over anything that is abusiness podcast.
(35:01):
I also love a good true crimepodcast.
Like the treadmill, that's yeah,yeah, true crime seven because I
gotta like disassociate fromwhat's happening.
Yeah, um yeah.
So I think that that that's ahigh focus for me.
And then also like I am in thetrenches of just social commerce
and what's happening out there,right?
(35:21):
And so um every night from eighto'clock to nine o'clock after I
put my kids to bed, I call it myhour of life study.
Uh, and I just go check outother retailer sites.
I check out social, I check outliterally anything on my phone
that I can get my hands on andsee how people are talking about
things, what items are trending,um, what neat states are out
there.
I read Reddit a lot, things likethat.
(35:43):
Just stay curious.
SPEAKER_01 (35:44):
Love it.
Um, I get to ask the funquestion.
Uh, biggest retail blunder.
They may still be in back roomssomewhere, but being slow
through.
SPEAKER_00 (35:54):
Listen, I tell I tell people a lot, like, there's
no such thing as a bad item.
Uh, there's just an item forit's time.
SPEAKER_03 (36:00):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:00):
Uh I'll never forget.
I was the assistant buyer fortabletop and trash.
And I have been in a potterybarn.
I've been in a Williams Sonoma,which is gathering inspiration
for tabletop, and hammeredplates were in at the time.
And so I came back and I waslike, we should create a
hammered plate that's plasticand disposable.
Very elegant, like very bougie.
Um, so we did.
(36:20):
We launched it on pallett, andno one bought it.
SPEAKER_01 (36:24):
Yeah, it was gonna be huge.
SPEAKER_00 (36:25):
Yeah, it was gonna be huge.
It turns out no one bought ituntil it was like$2.91.
Yeah.
Uh and they bought all of it.
And then in turn, the core skewof a plastic plate that I had uh
sold nothing.
Yeah, yeah, right.
So I killed that business, yeah,the seasonal business.
SPEAKER_04 (36:39):
Cool, cool.
SPEAKER_00 (36:39):
Hello, Amar.
Yeah, it was uh it was anightmare.
I learned so much.
SPEAKER_04 (36:44):
Oh, bad.
SPEAKER_00 (36:44):
Sometimes just because it's a trend to mean
that the is gonna purchase it.
Uh, and again, that's thebalance of curation, right?
Like that was a first in-classexample of do we need two
plastic plates at Sam's Club?
We sure don't.
SPEAKER_02 (36:57):
Yeah, yeah.
Um but you just don't you don'tlearn on a win, yeah, on a fail.
SPEAKER_00 (37:01):
Yeah, and get better.
I also didn't ask the member,right?
Like I didn't sit back and say,is there an actual demand for
this in a plastic plate?
I didn't go back to the member.
That was miss number one.
Yeah, and so ironically enough,the the senior buyer that I
worked for at the time, hegifted me at my wedding a pack
of hammered plates.
Come on, he got it at the Sam'sClub for two dollars.
SPEAKER_01 (37:23):
That's it for a great, great price.
That's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00 (37:26):
Yeah, so that was that was a humbling experience.
SPEAKER_02 (37:28):
So awesome.
I love that.
And then just to wrap it up, youknow, what are you looking
forward to over the next year orthe next 12 months?
What what's uh you know whatbeyond your day-to-day passions
of people product and innovationand innovation, PPIs, what what
are some things in the next yearthat you know have you pretty
juiced?
SPEAKER_00 (37:47):
Yeah, y'all, I'm so excited about the Ron Sam's Club
is on.
I think that the way we arechanging the game from an item
standpoint, the way that we aredelivering a frictionless
experience for the member andthen the people that we have
working on this.
Like I we had an item paradeyesterday, and I got to sit back
and listen to probably 30 itemsgo up on stage and just talk
about the why behind the itemand what it was solving for.
(38:10):
And I cannot wait for ourmembers to walk down the aisles.
SPEAKER_04 (38:12):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:13):
Um, but on the flip side, I also can't wait for more
brands to come and talk to us,right?
Because our members are hungryfor new brands and they're
hungry for a broad for a not abroad assortment, they're hungry
for an assortment that solves umproblems for them in the retail
environment.
And Sam's Club can do that.
And so I'm just really, reallyexcited about that.
SPEAKER_01 (38:33):
Yeah, for the brands that are like maybe on the edge
or like this might be worth theconversation.
Like, what what steps shouldthey take?
SPEAKER_00 (38:40):
Yeah, I think they should absolutely reach out to
us, right?
Whether that's on LinkedIn,whether that's an email,
however, whatever format thatlooks like, but we'd love to
have conversations.
SPEAKER_01 (38:48):
Yeah.
I think there's just a beliefout there of like not available.
It's like, no, are you kiddingme?
We're always hunting.
We are always this is like we'rewe're trying to serve the
member.
Like this is what we're herefor.
SPEAKER_00 (38:58):
We are.
We want to talk to brands,right?
Because we know, again, we'relistening to our members, we
know exactly what they're askingfor.
And so it's up to us to go findthe thing and bring it to life.
SPEAKER_01 (39:10):
So we post this short, yeah, like reply.
SPEAKER_00 (39:13):
Reply, send it out.
Reply.
Awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (39:16):
Thanks for being here, Katie.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_02 (39:19):
This is great.
Really enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_00 (39:20):
I love this.
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (39:22):
Yeah, thank you.
And thank you all for listening.
Uh, as always, you can find allof our episodes on our website
at highimpactanalytics.com orwherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you.
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