US-based warehouse club giant Costco Wholesale Corporation has reported net sales of $10.59 billion (€9.13 billion for the month of July, an increase of 10.1% from the $9.62 billion (€8.3 billion) it reported for the same period last year.
Over the four-week period the group reported sales up 9,7% in the US, 3,2% in Canada and 6,3% in other international markets.
As in previous months, e-commerce is still experiencing major growth, seeing a 20.9% rise in the four-week period and a 34.1% over the first forty-eight weeks of FY 2018.
For the first forty-eight weeks of fiscal year 2018, the company reported net sales of $127.40 billion, an increase of 12.1% on the same period last year.
A focus on global growth
In comparing sales for the first forty-eight weeks, Costco's International division has seen the most growth, rising 11.5% over FY 2018.
Costco currently operates 757 warehouses, including 526 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 99 in Canada, 38 in Mexico, 28 in the United Kingdom, 26 in Japan, 14 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, nine in Australia, two in Spain, one in Iceland, and one in France, which opened last summer.
The retailer is containing its international expansion; earlier this year it outlined plans to open at least one store a year in Australia, while China is also seen as a potential growth market.
The discount warehouse operator also operates a growing e-commerce network in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
