Comparing Costco And Everyday Low Pricing

Costco as a company began operations in 1983 with its headquarters in Issaquah, Washington (Costo 1). It was founded in Washington, United States by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman. Brotman comes from a family that had been involved in retail business before the establishment of Costco. Therefore assuming that his background may have prepared him for running Costco

The US warehouse club and superstore industry includes about 20 companies; however the major competitors that Costco faces are Sam 's Club (owned by Wal-Mart), BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Meijer. The club superstore industry is so competitive that these four companies alone hold over 90 percent of sales. These superstores are able to offer competitive pricing because as large companies they can offer a wide selection of products and have purchasing, distribution, marketing, and financing advantages. Due to low margins, the profitability of these individual superstore companies depends on high volume sales and efficient operations. This is where Costco has been able to succeed and set itself aside from the competitors.

Being one of the biggest club in US, still Sam’s Club is facing competition from another US based club known as Costco. Costco is offering same lowest possible prices and excellent supply chain process. Sam’s Club’s biggest problem is the notable differentiators in low profit margins and offering the best deals on products. The have a

Costco has many competitors with the primary two being Sam’s Club, a warehouse wholesale business being managed by Walmart, and BJ’s warehouse. Sam’s Club is offering the same services as Costco. They offer their customers lower prices than traditional stores and like Costco they sell their products in bulk to keep members interested. What makes them a threat to Costco is the cost of becoming a member to shop at their stores. For Costco’s basic membership, known as a Business membership, a price

Smart strategy allowed Costco by the end of 1993, to open its 100th store, including an international store in Canada, and boasted a 2 for 1 stock split and a 3 for 2 stock splits respectively. In 1993, the shareholders for both Costco and Price Company approved a merger, to create PriceCostco. The two companies, who were once competitors, were now merged and moving globally. By 1997, PriceCostco had opened stores in Essex, England, Seoul, Korea, and Taiwan, and were up to 200 in total. These stores were now setting up in-store Hearing Aid centers and gas station pumps in their parking lots. (HHC Publishing, 2010)

Costco has had steady growth in sales and earnings going as far back as 1995 as shown in Costco’s financial reports published on their corporate website. Also, Costco’s stock had substantial growth between 1995 and 200 and has shown steady growth trends since them (Yahoo Finance, 2013). Their member renewal rate was approximately 89.7% in the U.S. and Canada, and approximately 86.4% on a worldwide basis in 2012, consistent with recent years (Costco, 2012, p. 11). Costco’s strong financial performance, stock price trends, and customer retention are all indicators that their strategy is in line with their visions and objectives.

The management styles of Costco and Wal-Mart will be analyzed in the following paper that has been researched. The analysis of this topic will reveal that both Costco and Wal-Mart have some similarities, but mostly they have very different management styles that have bent them in different directions but with the same goal. Costco was the first company to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in just 5 years. For the year ending on August 31, 201, the company 's sales totaled $99 billion, with $1.7 billion net profit. Costco is 19th on the 2014 Fortune 500. Wal-Mart has over 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under over 50 different names. The company operates under its own name in the United States, including the 50 states. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has completely owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Wal-Mart’s investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America and China are highly successful. Costco and Wal-Mart have both had

If you have noticed, most of the time we would go for a quick errand to buy necessities we would usually go to Wal-Mart, Sam 's Club, King Soopers, Safeway, Walgreens, or Costco. Of course, there are other retail markets out there, but we 're going to focus on the "two leading American retailers, posting more revenue than any of their rivals" (Bowman): Wal-Mart and Costco. For many years, Wal-mart has been growing instantaneously and is the number one retailer in the world for many years. Although, when it comes to employee benefits, Costco 's would be considered a better choice for employees. Costco may be treating employees better when it comes to

Costco Corporation was founded by a pair of entrepreneurs, James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman. Costco is a large wholesales retailer where low price is only a fraction of why they are so successful. Their profit margins, ethical standards, and happy employees all contribute to why Costco is a successful business with over 488 locations serving around 48 million cardholders in eight countries. Costco has an annual sale of over $50 billion due to the strategies they implemented to keep their workforce of 125,000 motivated. It is known across the world that Costco treat their employees well and in return the employees are highly motivated to work for Costco and make it a success. Costco is the top warehouse club and the fourth largest retailer in the United Sates.

Arguably the biggest difference is how the retailer treats its workers. Walk into any Costco and look at the name tags. Chances are you will read the phrases “since 2002,” “since 1999” and “since 1995.” Costco workers get paid very well compared to their counterparts at chains including Walmart. In fact, employees working on the floor can make a salary that reaches the mid-$40,000 range; not bad for someone who starts working for the company out of high school.

Another important aspect is a limited selection of goods. Whereas Walmart or Target may have upwards of 150,000 items sold in their stores. Costco will have less than 4000. They also have their own private label which is only equal to 15% of what they carry in the stores, but it equals out to over 30% of their total sales currently. Another aspect of the product selection is that instead of buying many

This is a comparison between Costco and Walmart’s Sam’s Club which shows Costco is more loyal

Costco is among the leading global retailers which provide customers a wide range of merchandise, ranging from small to well-known brands. The company began operations in 1983. Over the years, Costco has been a retailer in low cost membership-only leader, in warehouse club of merchandise. Moreover, Costco does not offer frills warehouse business models as its competitors do.  Costco’s major competitors are BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sam Club (Costco, 2010).

They are performing very well from a strategic perspective. No, Costco does not enjoy a clear competitive advantage over Sam’s. It does however enjoy a competitive advantage over BJ’s. the nature of this competitive advantage includes the fact that BJ’s has too many products, which makes rapid turnover harder to achieve. I think that Costco has a winning strategy because they are selective with the

Costco’s culture is one where the customer and employee come first. Customers enjoy a 15% markup where most retail stores increase