This past Saturday, as often is the case on a weekend, I went to Sam’s Club. I actually have both a Costco and a Sam’s Club card and although I like Costco better, the crowds and the lines are just too long to dare go there on a Saturday, so Sam’s gets my business on weekends.

On this visit, I noticed ads throughout the store something new – their Scan & Go mobile app. I am not sure how long this app has been in place but it is the first time I saw it. I quickly downloaded it and tried it out. Using the app, I was able to scan my items as I put them in the cart. I was able to see the running total and then when my shopping was complete, I was able to pay right from my phone, bypassing the line completely.

While a store shopping app is a small thing and perhaps it is not revolutionary, it is illustrative on how technology can be used to transform business. Here are four ways this technical innovation is transformative.

  1. Enhances customer experience – I was able to see the products I was buying and see how much I was spending as I was going through the store. Even more importantly, I was able to pay and completely avoid the long lines, reducing my frustration with my shopping experience.
  2. Drives future interactions – With this new app, the company removed one of the biggest barriers/pain points for going to these type of stores – the long lines. Now that I know I can go there and be out quickly, I will drop in for smaller, even single item, purchases. More interactions equals more exposure to other items in the store that the customer may be attracted to buy. More exposure leads to more sales.
  3. Up-sell opportunities – Retail stores work hard to push incremental sales through end-cap, cash register and other promotion methods. While in the limited interaction I have had so far with the app, it did not attempt to up-sell, one could imagine a scenario where, as an example, if I were to buy some deli meat, the app could prompt me to buy some cheese or bread or other complementary items. This solution is another way for the business to increase the customer spend per trip.
  4. Better customer analytics – Many retailers, especially those with loyalty cards, already track our purchases and use that information to shape the types and quantities of products offered to the customer. An app like the one described here can provide additional metrics that may help the retailer make even better decisions about product offerings and could even influence the store layout and staffing requirements.

Transformation is all about changing the way our companies do business and how we interact with the customer. Great innovations don’t need to be gigantic but they do need to be impactful. They need to solve a pain point for the customer. There are many examples of seemingly small innovations totally that change the customer experience.

Some activities IT leaders undertake, like moving email to the Cloud, while important, are not necessarily transformational. A true transformational leader is focused on how their innovation can enhance the customer experience, positively impact the frequency of the sale, provide more opportunities to offer additional services and/or provide greater insights into how to make the business more efficient and serve the customer better.