Costco Due Diligence Report

The strategic objective of Costco is based on the concept of offering members very low prices on a limited selection of nationally branded and selected private label products in a wide range of merchandise categories while producing high sales volumes and rapid inventory turnover. This rapid inventory turnover, when combined with the operating efficiencies achieved by volume purchasing, efficient distribution and reduced handling of merchandise in no-frills, self service warehouse facilities, enables Costco to operate profitably at significantly lower gross margins than traditional wholesalers, discount retailers and supermarkets. (1)

The competition between the wholesale club industry is pretty strong but is mostly dominated by the three main competitors which are: Costco, Sam’s club and BJ’s Wholesale club. These three wholesale clubs for the most part dominate the industry and take away customers from other retail stores because they can offer much lower prices, brand name items and a wide variety of items to purchase from them. When it comes to shares of warehouse sales, Costco had roughly 56 percent of sales, Sam’s club had 36 percent and BJ’s wholesale had a low 8 percent. Unlike most retail stores, these three display all of their items on pallets or their inexpensive shelving which provides them with low cost on décor, labor and advertising.

1. What is Costco’s business model? Is the company’s business model appealing? Why or why not?

When it comes to warehouse-style club stores, there are really only four names out there: Costco, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart and BJ’s. This paper will discuss the Costco and BJ’s. The different type of strategies being utilized by each company, the purpose of the financial statements, their Vertical & Horizontal analysis, how each financial rations ties into the two company’s strategies, Solvency & Performance for each company, a SWOT analysis of each company and finally if the expectations of the stakeholders of each company are being met.

In the United States, the food retail industry is absolutely massive. According to Statista, this industry brings in nearly 5.27 trillion dollars annually and 594.4 billion of that is from grocery store sales. In this market, the 20-ton gorilla in the room is Walmart, racking in nearly 20% of the entire market at around 118 billion dollars in 2013 according to the Harvard Business School case study. Following Walmart, Kroger and Costco own the biggest next largest slices bringing in 76 billion and 71 billion respectively. In this highly competitive market that has some of the smallest margins of any industry it can be tough to get ahead and even tougher to grow. However, Trader Joe’s has managed to pierce what was once a very small world

Costco’s business model is focused on producing high sales volumes and rapid inventory turnover by offering members low prices on a limited selection of national name brands and select private-label products in a wide range variety. Costco is focused in low-cost strategy is concentrated on a narrow buy segment and out competing rivals by having lower costs, therefore being able serve a niche consumers at a lower price. (Gamble, John and Thompson, Arthur (2009)

Costco is one of the most profitable retail stores in the United States at the moment. This is in spite of the prevailing tough global economic times and stiff competition from stores such as Wal-Mart and Target. Costco, a members’ wholesale retail store, was founded in 1983 in Washington by Jeffrey Brotman, who serves as the current Chairman of the board of directors and James Sinegal, the current company president. Costco has not been spared by the current global economic conditions. They have affected it in a number of ways that have made the company’s management respond in a manner that is meant to ensure that the business not only survives but grows even stronger. First, Costco has taken strong measures to keep

In September 1983 Costco's first warehouse opened in Seattle, Washington. At this time, warehouse outlets had long existed, but the concept of a wholesale club was relatively new and promising. Dubbed "buyers' clubs" and begun in 1976, these warehouses were wholesalers that required shoppers to become members and pay an annual membership fee. The membership fee helped reduce already-low overhead, so that items could be sold at an average of 9 percent over cost from the manufacturer. At the time Costco was formed, membership warehouses were primarily a West Coast phenomenon; however, since then, their popularity has spread throughout the United States, across the borders to Canada and Mexico, and beyond to many other countries.

Costco Wholesale has generated a revolution in how people shop: for the first time, many Americans are willing to 'pay' for the privileges of membership to a store so they can buy its products and save money. Like Wal-Mart, Costco prides itself on its low, low prices. However, in stark contrast to Wal-Mart, Costco has also made its exemplary treatment of its employees part of its marketing and sales strategy. It advertises itself as an ethical company, a company where it is a pleasure to work. This use of its HR police as a marketing strategy has proven to be effective, particularly with its target audience. While it caters to a wide and diverse audience in terms of its product diversity, on the whole Costco's target consumer is more affluent and educated than the average consumer at a big box store like Sam's Club. Costco's target audience members are interested

Grocery industry is a highly competitive market with thin profit margins. Super markets are dominant players in the grocery industry. They use grocery offerings to drive traffic to their higher profit margin retail items. With its operations efficiency, Walmart, the largest grocery retailer has been able to offer significant price drops. This also forces other grocery stores to drop prices which keeps the profit margin thin. Even with all the advantages of operational efficiency and economies of scale, Walmart’s share in grocery sales was down at 51% in 2011.

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).

The first of Porter’s Five Forces that impact Costco is the threat of new entrants. The threat of new entrants into the wholesale and membership retail space is low. There are several reasons why the threat of entrants into the market is low. The leading reason why the threat of entry is low is because an emerging company will struggle to have the volume necessary to compete with Costco. Costco is the sixth largest retailer in the U.S. As a major retailer, Costco has the highest discounts on a majority of its

Potential new entrants into the market are a low threat for Costco. We have the advantage of economies of scale and having learned by doing. Our economies of scale come from better management coordination of processes, long term relationships with our suppliers, and enhanced employee performance with low turnover (Pearce et al., p. 100). The cost for a new entrant would be significant given the capital investment required to start up a warehouse business. Any

Costco is the best cost provider in the wholesale club category and the strategy is associated with Costco’s capabilities and resources, which includes; a streamlined supply chain, good supplier relationships, purchasing power, high sales volumes, quick inventory turnover, and excellent customer service. The three vital components of the company strategy are low pricing, limited product selection and high-end products acquired in closeouts and liquidations. While Costco strives to beat the competitors pricing, it also delivers exceptional value in its high-end offerings and customer service, giving consumers more for their money. Given its customers are the most affluent of all the warehouse clubs, with average incomes around $75,000 and this strategy works well for Costco. However, these customers are conscious not only about money but also value for the product, this fact is supported by the members who choose for executive

When you ask an average American about a wholesale dealer, one name stands out, Costco Wholessale Corp. They are one of the biggest wholesale corporation in US. That is very impressive considering they have only been in the industry for about 30 years. They are member based and provide quality goods and services to member only. Their members not just every day people but people who run small business so not only customers buy their product but sell them to others in their own stores as well. While their competitor, Wal-Mart, looks to provide lowest price but inlike Costco’s they overlook the quality. While BJ tries to look pretty to their customer, Costco pay less