Dive Brief:

• BJ’s Wholesale Club has unveiled a new mobile site, with improvements aimed at making it easier for club members to manage their memberships, as well as browse, research and save on their purchases, according to a company press release.

• The new mobile site also can be used to access services like online deli and bakery ordering from BJ’s, enabling club members to place an order and pick it up in as little as 36 hours. Members will also be able to use their mobile devices to reserve select non-perishable products and pick them up in-store in as little as two hours.

• The company also said it plans to continuing improving its mobile and desktop web sites, as well as increase the use of technology in its clubs as part of an overall effort to enhance its digital offerings.

Dive Insight:

This mobile web site upgrade appears to be directly connected to the broader omnichannel technology push that was promised a little less then two months ago, when Rafeh Massod became the ocmpany's first chief digital officer. Masood was charged at that time with revitalizing the company's e-commerce and omnichannel strategies, and he hasn't wasted any time doing that.

For a company that was rumored to be for sale just a few months ago, BJ's is not waiting around for a suitor to come in and alter its fortunes. The store operator is pushing forward, trying to make things easier for its customers.

The new site also brings an important new mobile dimension to the wholesale club's Pick Up & Pay service, which it introduced a little over a year ago as a convenience shopping feature. Allowing shoppers to access it via a mobile web site makes a ton of sense, as it would seem like many shoppers using it would be in situations where they are shopping via mobile to save time. Letting club members manage their memberships on a mobile-optimized site is a nod to the notion that more club members are living and shopping on mobile.

Improvements to its core web site were made late last year, but Masood seems intent on giving the whole operation a technology facelift. This mobile web site announcement was a nice start, but as retailers increasingly engage with consumers in variety of mobile modes — through apps and chatbots as well as web sites — the pressure will be on to keep innovating.