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Walmart’s (WMT) Sam’s Club has recently resonated well with consumers nationwide, despite growing competition and concerns about inflation and tariffs.
In Walmart’s first-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that Sam’s Club’s net sales in the U.S. increased by almost 3% year-over-year, while membership income grew 9.6% due to growth in new members and renewal rates.
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Sam’s Club foot traffic in its stores even climbed by 2.7% year-over-year during the quarter, according to recent data from Placer.ai.
Related: Costco quietly limits customer purchases of a beloved product
Despite this growth in consumer momentum, Sam’s Club still lags behind its competitors as Costco’s foot traffic increased by roughly 6% during the quarter, while BJ’s spiked by 4%.
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Sam’s Club makes a major change amid shift in customer behavior
Amid increased competition and in response to a growing consumer trend, Sam’s Club has made a significant change to its food and beverage products.
In 2022, the warehouse club pledged to remove certain ingredients that consumers may deem harmful from its Member’s Mark food products by the end of 2025, while also focusing on items made through sustainable practices.
Some ingredients Sam’s Club has been striving to remove include artificial flavors, high-fructose corn syrup, aspartame, phthalates, and synthetic colors.
“The Sam’s Club member is at the center of everything we do, so as we continue to evolve the Member’s Mark brand, we intend to develop items that are reflective of the ingredients, processes, and materials they want – and don’t want – in their products,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president of private brands and sourcing at Sam’s Club, in a 2022 press release.
Related: BJ’s CEO warns customers of a harsh new reality in stores
Now, so far in 2025,, Sam’s Club claims it has banned 40 ingredients from 96% of its Member’s Mark food and beverage products, and it plans to ban them from all products in this category by the end of the year, according to a recent press release.
Sam’s Club also said that it recently surveyed its members and found that 72% are “actively seeking minimally processed foods,” while 90% said that they “either live or aspire to live a healthier lifestyle.”
“We take pride in the high-quality ingredients that go into our products, but what truly differentiates us are the ingredients we consciously leave out,” said Sam’s Club Chief Merchant Julie Barber in the release.
Major food companies have also been flagging this growing consumer trend
The move from Sam’s Club comes during a time when Americans across the country are increasingly becoming more health-conscious, a trend that skyrocketed after the Covid-19 pandemic.
A recent survey by the International Food Information Council found that 79% of Americans said that they consider whether a food product is processed when deciding to purchase it.
For example, seed oils — including canola, sunflower, and palm — have recently drawn scrutiny from consumers for contributing to inflammation in the body. The trend has pushed fast-food chain Steak n’ Shake to remove these oils from its food.
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Also, despite being approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, synthetic dyes such as Blue 1, Red 40, and Yellow 6, commonly found in processed foods, have come under fire for being linked to health issues such as cancer and hyperactivity in children.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, has even vowed to ban artificial dyes from all U.S. food products by the end of the year.
“For too long, some food producers have been feeding Americans petroleum-based chemicals without their knowledge or consent,” said Kennedy in an April press release. “These poisonous compounds offer no nutritional benefit and pose real, measurable dangers to our children’s health and development. That era is coming to an end.”
During an earnings call in February, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said there has been a “higher level of awareness” among American consumers about health and wellness, which is impacting sales.
“We’re seeing more conversation in social media about health and wellness, in general, and obviously, that’s impacting consumption of food and consumption of beverages,” said Laguarta.
Even Kellogg CEO Gary Pilnick warned investors in May that the company’s cereal category faced declining sales as consumers increasingly lean more towards new brands that focus more on health and nutrition.
Related: Walmart suffers another major boycott from customers