Sam’s Club makes major product change as shoppers cut back | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Sam’s Club, which is operated by Walmart, has seen changing consumer behavior in recent months amid ongoing economic uncertainty, prompting shoppers to focus more on value as they rethink their spending habits.

During the third quarter of 2025, Sam’s Club’s comparable sales increased by 3.8% year over year, mainly due to sales growth in grocery and general merchandise categories, according to Walmart’s latest earnings report.

Also, recent data from Placer.ai showed that foot traffic at Sam’s Club stores climbed 3.2% year over year during the quarter. However, its foot traffic growth lagged behind its top two competitors, Costco and BJ’s Wholesale, which both saw traffic jump 6% and 5.9%, respectively.

The slight rise in consumer momentum comes after Sam’s Club rolled out bold changes in its stores to gain a stronger competitive edge against its rivals.

For example, in April last year, the warehouse club expanded its gas station hours. Most gas stations at Sam’s Club locations are now open at 6 a.m. and close at 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 p.m. on Sunday.

That same month, Sam’s Club announced plans to phase out traditional checkouts across its 600 stores, replacing them with Scan & Go technology, which is essentially mobile self-checkout for customers.

Instead of checking out items at a cashier or a self-checkout machine, the technology allows shoppers to scan and pay for items via a mobile app on their phone. Sam’s Club stores with Scan & Go technology even have “exit arches” embedded with computer vision that automatically detect customers’ receipts and items in their baskets.

Sam’s Club has been rolling out eyebrow-raising changes in its stores to attract more customers.

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Sam’s Club completes another bold change in stores

In addition to gas station and checkout changes, Sam’s Club has also been removing certain ingredients its customers view as unhealthy from its Member’s Mark food and beverage products, an initiative it first announced in 2022.

Some of the ingredients that Sam’s Club has been cutting from these products include artificial flavors, high-fructose corn syrup, aspartame, phthalates, synthetic colors, etc.

“The Sam’s Club member is at the center of everything we do, so as we continue to evolve the Member’s Mark brand, we intend to develop items that are reflective of the ingredients, processes and materials they want – and don’t want – in their products,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president of private crands and sourcing at Sam’s Club, in a 2022 press release.

Sam’s Club aimed to complete this change by the end of 2025, and the retail giant recently announced it has achieved this goal.

Sam’s Club has removed over 40 unwanted ingredients and synthetic colors from its Member’s Mark food and beverage products, “without compromising on taste or disruptive value,” according to a recent press release.

While the company successfully implemented this change across hundreds of products, some couldn’t be altered, leading to those items being pulled from shelves.

“Rethinking hundreds of products required us to look closely at every detail,” said Sam’s Club in the press release. “This process taught us that meeting a higher standard often requires unique solutions. In many cases, it meant innovating. In a few rare instances, it meant deciding that a product simply couldn’t carry the Member’s Mark brand.”

Sam’s Club said reformulating its bakery icing was one of its “most significant hurdles,” as removing certain ingredients while maintaining “the right consistency and vibrant appeal” required “exhaustive development.”

The company also noted that it removed vibrant blue synthetic colors from its sports drinks, replacing them with a “more natural, purplish hue.”

Sam’s Club said that this year, it aims to “take this vision further” by removing unwanted ingredients in “other areas of the club, including cosmetics, health and wellness, laundry, and more.”

Sam’s Club is answering a growing shift in consumer behavior

The decision to remove unwanted ingredients from its Member’s Mark food and beverage products comes after Sam’s Club surveyed its members and found that 72% are “actively seeking minimally processed foods.” In comparison, 90% said that they “either live or aspire to live a healthier lifestyle,” according to a press release from last year.

In a statement to TheStreet, RTMNexus CEO Dominick Miserandino said that Sam’s Club’s switch to cleaner ingredients in its products is a significant move that will result in greater customer loyalty.

“What Sam’s Club did isn’t just on the surface,” said Miserandino. “It recognizes that shoppers care about what’s in their food, not just the price. As consumers push back on overly processed ingredients, cleaner labels become a real competitive edge. It won’t drive instant sales spikes, but it does build trust. And in grocery, trust turns into loyalty over time.”

Consumers becoming more health-conscious is a trend that has become increasingly popular nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. This shift towards food products with cleaner and simpler ingredients has significantly changed how Americans shop for food, according to a 2024 survey from the International Food Information Council.

How Americans avoid unwanted ingredients in their food:

Approximately 79% of Americans said that they consider whether or not a food product is processed when deciding to purchase it.
A whopping 63% of Americans say they avoid processed foods.
Additionally, 1 in 3 Americans follow a vegan, vegetarian or plant-based eating pattern to be healthier.
Also, 36% of Americans rely on “Natural,” “Organic,” or “Healthy” labels on food products to indicate that they contain no artificial ingredients or colors. Source: International Food Information Council

In recent years, food ingredients such as seed oils, including canola, sunflower and palm, have even come under fire from consumers on social media for being overly processed and contributing to inflammation in the human body.

Synthetic dyes such as Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 6, etc., which are commonly used in processed foods and are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have also been scrutinized for their links to health issues, including hyperactivity in children and even cancer.

In April last year, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rebuked the use of these ingredients in food and even vowed to ban artificial dyes from all U.S. food products by the end of 2025.

“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” said Kennedy in a press release. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end.”

Sam’s Club is seeing customers grow cautious about their spending

Sam’s Club’s move to cater to changing consumer attitudes towards processed foods also comes during a time when it is seeing shoppers pull back their spending in stores as they battle economic pressures.

During an earnings call in November, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that Walmart and Sam’s Club are only seeing increased demand from upper and middle-income consumers.

“As we look at our customers and members here in the U.S., they’re still spending, with upper and middle-income households driving our growth,” said McMillon. “We continue to benefit from higher-income families choosing to shop with us more often.”

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“Middle-income households have been steady, and while lower-income families have been under additional pressure of late, we’re encouraged by how our teams are meeting them with greater value across necessities and doing what we can to help them stretch their dollars further,” he continued.

The U.S. economy has been facing low consumer sentiment amid concerns about tariffs, which have contributed to higher prices nationwide. Many Americans have been spending less and seeking greater value as they grow worried about the economy, according to a recent survey from Wunderkind.

How U.S. consumers are battling tariffs in 2025:

Amid tariffs and inflation, 59% of consumers feel cautious, pessimistic or panicked about the economy.
Approximately 71% cited higher prices as their top concern, while 47% cited unpredictable price increases.
Also, 38% are seeking deals more often, while 34% are spending less overall. Source: Wunderkind

“U.S. shoppers are proving more strategic than ever,” wrote Danny O’Reilly, senior content architect at Wunderkind, in a blog post. “What began as short-term caution has now crystallized into a new retail reality: value is the priority, trust is the differentiator, and digital fluency defines how, and where consumers spend.”