Sam's Club

Behind the Data

The Sam's Club Database contains retail sales information gathered from sales at Sam's Club stores. The process used to gather this information begins with a Sam's Club member gathering all of the items they intend to purchase during the current visit to Sam's Club. The member then proceeds to a register to check out. A Sam's Club associate scans the member's Sam's Club card, at which point a visit number (visit_nbr) is generated and stored in the store_visits table. The associate proceeds by scanning each item with a barcode reader. When all of the items have been scanned, summary information about each individual type of product (i.e. 6 packages of sop) purchased during that visit is recorded in the item_scan table. When payment is tendered for items purchased on that visit, summary information for the total order (transaction time & date, amount spent, number of unique items purchased, etc) is recorded in the store_visits table. Other tables are used to store information about stores, products, and members.

The Dataset

The retail sales information in the UA_SAMSCLUB database was provided to the Walton College of Business by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. The database consists of 6 tables with more than 55 million rows populated and ready for use.

This is a gifted dataset that is based on real operational data. Like many real databases, integrity problems may be noted. This can provide a unique opportunity not only to expose students to real data but also to illustrate the effects of data integrity problems.

The UA_SAMSCLUB consists of six tables which include STORE_VISITS (Store visits by member), ITEM_SCAN (Information collected when item is scanned), STORE_INFORMATION (Information about store), MEMBER_INDEX (Member's information), ITEM_DESC (Item description), and SUB_CATEGORY_DESC (Item's secondary information).

Data Dictionary and Entity Relationship Diagram for WCOB_SAMS_STOREVISITS, WCOB_SAMS_SALES AND WCOB_SAMS_INTERATED will be made available once the "Request Systems Access" has been approved.

Metadata information can be downloaded once you have obtained access to the University of Arkansas system.

UA_SAMSCLUB contains sales transaction data for 18 Sam's Club stores between January 1 and January 31, 2000.