Report: Walmart sues BJ’s over checkout technology

Walmart Inc. has filed a suit in federal court that accuses BJ’s Wholesale Club of stealing one of the retail giant’s checkout options.

Walmart and its Sam’s Club division accused BJ’s of stealing technology that powers its contactless, mobile self-checkout option, Scan & Go, in the Sam’s Club mobile app, reported CNBC. The lawsuit filed on Tuesday in a U.S. District Court in Orlando claims that Walmart worked for years to develop Scan & Go, and that the retailer holds multiple patents protecting the intellectual property for the feature, according to the report.

Sam’s Club piloted scan & go mobile payment in 2016. In 2020, it brought the mobile checkout feature to the pump, calling it “scan & go fuel.” The feature is also available to store shoppers who are members of Walmart+, the company subscription-based membership program.

In the suit, Walmart claims that BJ’s mobile contactless payment feature, Express Pay, “is an apparent copy of Sam’s Club’s Scan & Go, merely changing the in-app colors and changing the name from Scan & Go to Express Pay.” BJ’s debuted the feature at the end of last year.

News of the lawsuit was first reported by Bloomberg Law.