COSTCO: HOT OR NOT?

Posted on Sep 15, 2009 - 02:24 PM

Once a quarter, research firm Synovate Aztec presents an in depth Grocery overview – “What’s Hot?” - to all TorchMedia staff.

Last week Shopperholic sat in on the presentation, which included some interesting discussion points concerning the latest global retail player to enter Australia – Costco. The opening of Costco’s first store in Melbourne certainly created a huge amount of hype with thousands of bargain hunters visiting the store on the first morning. Not even the 50 plus checkouts could cope with the demand.

Costco President and CEO, Jim Sinegal, explains the company’s success to date. “Costco is able to offer lower prices and better value by eliminating virtually all the fills and costs historically associated with conventional wholesalers and retailers, including salespeople, fancy buildings, delivery, billing and accounts receivable”.

Perhaps one of the most interesting facts about Costco is its impressive MAT (moving annual turnover) compared to the number of stores it has. Costco sits at number 9 on the list of Global Retailers with a MAT of $78,750 million gained from only 559 stores. The highest number of stores in the list of top 10 global retailers is Sven & I, Japan with 25,137 stores while the Metro Group in Germany has the second least number of outlets after Costco with 2,334 stores. This statistic shows just how big and successful each individual store has been overseas.

Back to TorchMedia Blog.