Sam's Club is hiring 2,000 e-commerce workers and launching week-long deals in preparation for a surge in online holiday shopping

• Sam's Club will hire 2,000 permanent workers to staff its fulfillment and distribution centers.
• The Walmart-owned members-only retailer has also begun launching holiday deals.
• Like many retailers, Sam's Club is overhauling its holiday timeline in order to suit the needs of members during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sam's Club is embarking on an e-commerce hiring spree and launching early deals ahead of the upcoming holiday season.

Walmart's members-only warehouse chain announced that it will be hiring 2,000 permanent, full-time workers to staff fulfillment and distribution centers and bolster its supply chain. Hundreds of those new employees will be working at the company's newest fulfillment center in Perris, California.

Sam's Club's push represents only the latest such e-commerce-centric hiring spree to take place in advance of the 2020 holiday season. Sam's Club's own parent company, Walmart, has also announced that it will hire 20,000 seasonal fulfillment center workers. Target and Kohl's also plan to hire 130,000 and 90,000 seasonal workers, respectively. Sam's Club, however, is one of the few retailers to focus more on permanent, full-time workers.

Beyond the fulfillment centers, around 100 Sam's Club locations will now be taking on a greater role in completing e-commerce orders under the chain's new "Ship from Club" program. The initiative will allow members to order items from their local club's inventory online. Orders will then be shipped out for delivery. Sam's Club hopes that the new service will ultimately "account for about one-fifth of all online orders," according to a press release.

"COVID-19 has changed how our members shop and the experiences they desire," Sam's Club Chief Member Officer Tony Rogers said in a statement. "We're listening and evolving our approach to meet their needs."

Like Walmart and plenty of other retailers coping with the coronavirus pandemic's impact this holiday season, Sam's Club will also pushing up holiday offerings beyond Black Friday. In fact, the members-only retailer's first savings event began on October 4. Similar month-long savings events will take place in November and December. A "10 Days of Thanks-Savings" sales event will occur between November 20 and November 29, to replace traditional Black Friday offerings. Sam's Club will also offer online-only Cyber Monday deals.