A new employee app called “Sam’s Garage” is designed to dramatically cut the time it takes Sam’s Club customers to purchase a set of tires.Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart, briefly mentioned Sam’s Garage during prepared remarks he gave during Walmart’s annual shareholders meeting on June 7.“What used to be a half-hour ordeal to buy tires will now take less than five minutes,” said McMillon. “We’re going from multiple systems, paper catalogs and a large desk to a user-friendly, member-grade app on a mobile tablet. We’ll give hundreds of thousands of hours back to members. This is what it looks like to be a digital company.”A video posted on the Walmart corporate blog provides more detail about how Sam’s Garage works. Associates start by scanning a customer’s Sam’s Club membership card, which brings up their profile, including vehicles they own. The associate then selects the correct vehicle, and based on a conversation with the customer selects specific tire needs, such as responsiveness and winter traction, from a menu.Based on this input, the app generates a list of tires for the associate to recommend, including special promotional offers. The customer can have the app provide a comparative analysis of selected tires, comparing and contrasting their availability, savings, and how well they meet the customer’s selected tire needs.Once the customer makes a selection, the associate can automatically place an order from within the app, using the customer’s stored payment information.Sam’s Garage will be rolled out nationwide in July.