Costco members have never been slow in expressing their displeasure of the warehouse club if they are unhappy with a good, service, or element of the whole shopping experience. However, in a change of events that most likely surprises some of Costco’s critics, the company has recently revealed that a new front-door policy under discussion truly provides several major benefits to consumers who shop there.
Costco fitted new membership card scans at the building’s entry when it first opened its main warehouse in Issaquah, Washington, in January. Before allowed access to the warehouse, staff members must review a member’s picture.
The gadgets allow the member’s picture to show. Customers have responded rather differently to the move as it was a major one for them and in the past they had to present their cards to a Costco employee before entering the shop.
Customers worried, for example, that the scanners would cause noticeably more traffic in Costco’s warehouses and far more crowds. Others, on the other hand, have praised Costco’s decision to scan cards at the entry, saying they hope this would deter non-members from visiting the business.
One can scan this card in really a short period of time. The customer stated on Reddit, “I have not encountered any delays or issues.”
“I understand; some people in the globe try to get access without having a membership by means of system bypassing. Another Reddit user said they would prefer them turned away at the entry instead of at the register.
Since the start of the year, Costco has been deploying new membership card scanners in increasing numbers of warehouses all throughout the United States. Moreover, the company revealed some of the ways in which these scanners are improving Costco’s shopping experience during the earnings conference scheduled on September 26.
Costco’s Chief Financial Officer, Gary Millerchip, said the gadgets give warehouses “real-time traffic counts throughout the day,” which helps them to open and close lines depending on foot traffic level. Therefore, if you visit Costco at a particularly busy moment, scanning your card at the door will help the store to ascertain the exact number of consumers who are there and, when need, modify the staff count to better handle the higher client count.
Millerchip that another benefit of the card scanners is that they let Costco “monitor our fresh food a little better since they know what the traffic counts look like.” Stated differently, the devices may be able to help Costco stores make sure they have the right mix of fresh food goods on shelves so they may serve consumers exactly at the right moment.
Millerchip says that one other benefit of the scanners is that they allow Costco customers to check their cards without having to shift aside as they are entering the shop instead of doing it as they are checking out.
“It also transferred the responsibility of membership certification from the front-end registers to the entrance, allowing us to assess individuals’ membership status,” he stated to reporters.
As of right now, around 350 American warehouses have card scanners installed in them. Ron Vachris, President and Chief Executive Officer, said on the results call that, despite the debate the devices have generated on social media, the reception to the scanners has thus been favorable so far.