How BJ’s Wholesale Membership leverages AI to serve its clients

Anjana Harve serves as Executive Vice President, Chief Information Officer of BJ’s Wholesale Club, where she leads technology innovation at the high-frequency club store. As BJ’s continues to grow and evolve, its core value remains the same — providing value to its members.

“Everything at BJ’s begins and ends with thinking about our members,” Harve says. “It’s a very customer-focused organization.”

Harve joins Retail Gets Real to talk about the BJ’s member experience, how the company is leveraging AI, her personal career journey and what’s on the horizon for tech and retail.

Harve’s career journey

Harve wasn’t always in the retail club. After studying computer science engineering, she worked in the pharmaceutical and health care industries before pivoting to retail.

What attracted her to the industry was its focus on the customer. “What I have enjoyed most as I look back on my career, it was a lot of patient centricity,” she says. She has always been dedicated to “figuring out why and where technology can be used for the ultimate purpose of what it is, which is thinking about the customer. I am super passionate about it.”

That’s why BJ’s was a natural fit for her. “What better way into the industry than coming into a company that is truly a member-based organization?” she says.

How BJ’s uses AI to serve its members 

The only constant in retail is change — and AI is changing the future of the industry. Harve says BJ’s is leveraging generative AI, and also using the tool in predictive models, supply chain and other areas.

“For us, it’s about mindset,” she says. “It’s about having the right agility. Knowing where to go deep and where to kind of stay and watch, and that’s OK. It’s actually not a bad thing to watch what someone else is doing while you’re kind of focusing on your core things.”

What’s next For BJ’s Wholesale Club 

BJ’s will continue to focus on its principal tenets — even as it expands its physical footprint, merchandising operations and digital presence. Throughout, its number one priority is enhancing member loyalty. “We take care of the families who depend on us,” Harve says.

Harve’s career advice

Harve took a risk shifting her career to retail — and she recommends everyone else swing big, too. “A mentor of mine told me a long time ago, ‘If your dreams don’t scare you, you’re not dreaming big enough.’”

Listen to the full episode to hear more about Harve’s career journey, her perspective on women in STEM leadership roles, how BJ’s is using tech to innovate and Harve’s vision for the future of retail.

Episode chapters

(00:01:28) Harve’s career journey 

• Her background in computer science engineering 
• Her work in the pharmaceutical and health care industries
• What attracted her to the retail industry 

(00:05:45) The membership model 

• How the focus on the member drives the business
• Who is a BJ’s member?

(00:08:27) How BJ’s leverages AI

• How to be agile in a constantly evolving environment 
• Ways BJ’s is using generative AI 
• How to get people on board with AI when they don’t understand it 
• How Harve uses AI in her personal life 

(00:16:10) Women’s representation in STEM leadership roles 

• Statistics of women in STEM jobs
• The progress we’ve made — and opportunities for more progress in the future 
• What organizations can do to encourage more women leaders 

(00:21:00) What’s next for BJ’s? 

• Growing its footprint 
• Keeping true to its core purpose as it grows 
• Finding and nurturing the best talent for its team 

(00:25:04) Harve’s career advice 

• The importance of taking risks
• The exciting future of tech and retail 

(00:26:44) The exciting future of tech and retail 

• Opportunities to leverage technology in the retail industry 
• Creating personalized, experiential, frictionless and algorithmic retail 

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