Sam’s Club hires ‘experts’ to make video reviews for product pages

Sam’s Club is beginning to incorporate videos featuring “expert reviews” onto product pages for brands looking to improve engagement and credibility.

While product page videos are a standard feature on many retail websites—Amazon has utilized them for years in search results, premium page layouts, and alongside product imagery—Sam’s Club has previously limited its video presence to sponsored search results. With this new initiative, the retailer is taking a more direct role on behalf of its advertisers.

Sam’s Club unveiled these “expert reviews” on April 16 as part of a broader suite of updates for its retail media network, the Sam’s Club Member Access Platform (MAP). Other additions include an influencer program and the installation of tablets near product demonstration carts.

To produce these videos, Sam’s Club recruits experts from relevant fields—such as health, science, technology, or cooking—to discuss a product’s specific features and benefits in a clip hosted on the product page. Harvey Ma, vice president and general manager of the Sam’s Club Member Access Platform, explained that the company identifies the most qualified individuals to represent products and provide expert perspectives. The retailer began testing this feature during the fourth quarter, utilizing content for both national brands and private-label items.

For instance, in a video for the mattress brand GhostBed, Sam’s Club featured a physical therapist who explained how the product provides body support for injury recovery and improved sleep.

“There is something to be said, particularly for highly discretionary purchase items like a GhostBed, of the need for some validation, rather than research you’re doing on your own,” Ma said. “Expert-led video is really a way for us to bring together what we would call ‘sight, sound, motion,’ on site, which we know will capture attention, but to also lean a little bit into what’s so hot right now, which is influencer- or expert-led advice.”

These videos appear in the image carousel while customers browse the product page.

The initiative is not restricted to any specific category and is available to any brand advertising through the Member Access Platform as part of their broader media package.

“We do all the content, we do all the copy, we do all the shooting, we do all the production, all of it,” Ma said. “The process is as customized as you want it to be, and that includes whether you want to shoot that product in bulk with others to help save cost, or we can come to you. We make it as flexible as possible for our clients.”

As is the case with other advertising tools offered by wholesale retailers, Sam’s Club possesses the unique ability to link every in-store transaction to a specific member. This allows the company to accurately measure how advertisements influence purchases both in physical locations and online.

“This placement is another element that makes that MAP program more robust and takes advantage of some of the nuances that are different about Sam’s and their members than Walmart, which is more mass appeal,” said Scott Benedict, a former Sam’s Club e-commerce executive. He noted that Sam’s Club members generally shop more frequently and tend to be more highly educated and affluent than the average Walmart shopper.

Benedict added that integrating videos into product pages—whether produced by the brand, the retailer, or uploaded by consumers—could also provide retailers with an advantage as AI agents begin to aggregate and scrape video content.

This product review feature is one of several ways Sam’s Club is utilizing both paid and organic customer feedback to boost sales for its advertising clients.

The company also recently launched a creator program, curating a group of influencers who are primarily Sam’s Club members. Unlike other programs where retailers simply redistribute creator content, Sam’s Club is actively recruiting influencers to produce promotional material specifically for the brand.

“We know that there is a gigantically growing demographic that is relying on other people’s opinions to tell them what to do and tell them what to buy,” Ma said.

Furthermore, the company is gathering member feedbackvious collaboration with the tech firm Freeosk. Every club location is now equipped with at least one tablet. Shoppers can provide reviews of the products they sample, which are then published to the corresponding online product pages

“Syndicated reviews don’t necessarily do a good job of demonstrating that product for a specific retailer,” Ma said. “If you really want to get a rating specific to your club channel, and more specifically here at Sam’s Club, what better way to do that than to actually have member point-of-demo feedback in real time at the demo part itself.”