Costco Wholesale Corporation consists of over 500 warehouses worldwide which feature discount shopping for customers without the embellishments of sales personnel and lavishly decorated building sites. As it currently stands, Costco is the largest membership warehouse chain in the United States and as of 2009, it is considered the third largest retailer in the US and the ninth largest in the world. The first Costco Wholesale store opened its doors on September 15, 1938 by James Sinegal and Jeffery Brotman in Seattle, Washington. Costco has since expanded to locations all across the globe including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the United States. Costco currently obtains over $70 billion in revenues which are generated by a workforce of 142,000 full and part-time employees and has approximately 55 million members. In 1993, Costco merged with Price Club and began a renamed venture called PriceCostco and was led by executives of both companies. However, the executives of Price Club left the company in December of 1994. In 1997, the company changed its named to Costco Wholesale and promptly rebranded all existing Price Club locations. The main competitors of Costco are the other major warehouse retail centers Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale club. Although Sam’s Club has many more warehouses Costco decisively retains higher overall sales volume. Costco has been the first company to grow $3 billion in sales in less than six years and has unsurprisingly been ranked number 25th on the 2010 Fortune 500.
Costco’s mission is simple; to continually provide members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices. In order to do this Costco conducts their business with the followin...
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... itself on its employees, treating them far better than any of its competitors and it shows because Costco’s largest operation costs are its employees cost. Costco encourages moving up in the company by always hiring from within and supporting positions with training. They provide their employees with a wide range of health benefits to both full-time and part-time employees. Include 401k investment options, which Costco match 50% of the first $1000 and also put additional money into 401k’s for years of service provided.Lastly, Costco offers competitive wages averaging to $17 an hour including bonuses twice a year, which is also weighted by years of service. Since Costco makes employee satisfaction a major priority the majority of their employees stay with the company. This benefits Costco by allowing them to retain highly trained, happy and productive workers.
Price: All the Costco products have a maximum mark up of 15%, keeping their prices competitive and almost always cheaper than their competitors which usually mark up at 25%. In the video the founder is seen comparing the price of one of their products (a toy truck) to Sam’s Club which was offering it at a lower price, and reconsidering their pricing for it. Their pricing does however force the consumer to buy the product in bulk- making them assume that they are getting the best possible price.
There are ten elements needed to survive a zombie apocalypse: a steady food supply, clean water, medicine, transportation, gas, a defense system, a sturdy shelter, a safe place to sleep within the shelter, weapons, and simple tools. Costco supplies all of these items. According an article in The Concordian, “If you asked 100 people where they would hide during a zombie apocalypse, 98 would say Costco. Costco is a vast market that sells basically anything you would need to live there permanently” (Menexis). Unfortunately that still leaves those two out of one hundred people that disagree. Those people say that Costco would be an unwise place to be during the apocalypse because of its sheer size. They state that the massive size of a Costco store is too big for a person or even small group of people to defend. While this argument has a logical line of thinking behind it, there are several factors that render this viewpoint invalid. Costco does not need a huge defense system because it is literally a huge warehouse. This means that Costco is essentially a huge concrete box with two ope...
Costco Wholesale Corporation was an uncommon type of retailers called wholesale clubs. These clubs differentiated themselves from other retailer by requiring annual membership purchase. Especially in case of Costco, their target market is wealthier clientele of small business owners and middle class shoppers. They are now known as a low cost or discount retailer where they sell products in bulk with limited brands and their own brand. The company is competing with stores like Wal-Mart, SAM’s, BJ’s, and Sears.
Costco was founded on September 15th, 1983 by Jeffery Brotman and James Sinegal (Chesley). It became renowned for its warehouse club retail model, pioneered by former competitor Price Club. After a major merger in 1993 with Price Club, Costco expanded to 206 locations, doubling the size of the company (“Costco Wholesale Historical Highlights”). The decision was based on the fact Costco and Price Club shared similar business philosophies, operations, and the looming threat of being taken over by Sam’s Club. Operating as PriceCostco, international expansion began with development of stores in Mexico, the opening of two stores in England, and the licensing of a Price Club in South Korea ("Costco Wholesale Corporation").
“Culture is not the most important thing. It’s the only thing.” (Gabler, The Magic in the Warehouse, 2016). It has been said that “Costco acts more like a cheerful cult than a hard-driving business.” (Gabler, The Magic in the Warehouse, 2016). Costco hasn’t wavered from their founder’s strategy of promoting within; over 98% of their management started their careers with Costco. This strategy clearly works; the environment is one of family not just coworkers. They are loyal to the brand and motivated to work hard and climb the corporate ladder. Costco sees this as ensuring the future of their values which in turn ensures their
Their boards are similar in member size (Walmart with 12 and Costco with 13). Both companies also advocate for a separate CEO and Chairman. They also have a similar number of meetings per year (Walmart 6 and Costco 5) (Spencer 4). Both companies also utilize executive sessions and Costco, like Walmart, has at least two executive sessions a year for independent directors (Costco 11). Finally Costco also has a code of ethics that applies to all employees, directors and executives. They
Costco has one of the most competitive benefits packages in the industry. Not only do they provide employees with a full spectrum of benefits, but employees also may elect coverage for their spouses, children and domestic partners. The company pays a larger percentage of the premiums than do most other retailers. Costco's customers like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. And The Costco website offers online tools to manage health.
...pr. 2010. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. Fifield, Will. “Not business as usual.” The Costco Connection Sept. 2010: 24-27. Print.
In the warehouse segment, Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club competes harshly with Costco. Costco has fewer warehouses but greater sales and revenues. Costco customers also shop at Costco more frequently than Sam’s Club customers and, on average, spend more each visit as well. Costco’s dominance may be the result of better innovation. Costco offers luxury items and was the first to sell fresh meat and produce, and gasoline. This is important because innovation is a key factor in assessing competitors in an industry.
Costco has many competitors with the primary two being Sam’s Club, a wholesale business being managed by Walmart, and BJ’s wholesale club. 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 increase had to occur to outweigh price increases from their suppliers. This led to the Costco Business membership annual fee being set at $55. When looking into the case study assembled by Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, and Strickland (2014) they point out that Sam’s Club is able to offer similar benefits ...
In 1983 the combination of two companies Price Club and Costco Wholesale created the store we have now Costco. Costco is a membership warehouse club that delivers “high-quality products, at rock-bottom prices” (1 Geier) all while treating its employees fair as well with great benefits and high pay. The goal of the company seems to be to keep cost down so they can return their savings to the members. Costco also seems to be much better off than other big box retailers like Wal-Mart who have problems rendering from National & International labor issues, to poor customer service, low-quality products, empty shelves, and declining sales (1 Geier). At the same time Costco is holding those strong sales and famously known for the good wages and benefits
Being a stocker for Costco Wholesale is a straightforward job. The stocker comes in each morning and presents with the day’s tasks. The stocker is monitored throughout the day by the department manager to make sure all tasks are being met in a timely manner. Costco Wholesale works less like a business and more like a well-tuned machine. If one cog in a machine is faulty or rusty, then the whole system will run inefficiently.
The Wal-mart is the largest retail chain in United States and in the world. The wal-mart was founded in the year 1962 by Mr Sam Walton. It was originally named as Wal-Mart discount city in Rogers, Arkansas. At the time when the Wal-Mart stores started in the year 1962 it was focused only in small rural cites and town which had a population of 5000 to 25000. It was soon increased to 18 stores in 1969. In the next 30 years it had more than 4750 stores across 50 states in USA and 9 countries with $245 billion sales. It started its international operations in Mexico in the year 1991 and then it expanded it to different countries across Europe and Asia.
The human resource services at Albertsons appears to be much better than their chief competitor Wal-Mart’s .It is mentioned that the average Albertsons employee earns more than a Wal-Mart ‘s employee. Also employees at Albertsons enjoy benefits like health insurance and retirement packages
This essay describes how Costco has undergone evolutionary changes from its inception to present through its value chain model to become a success story. For example, in its distribution system, Costco utilizes the cross-docking technology to help in the conveyance of products in the different locations. This ensures that there are no product delays in the respective markets (Guo, 2016). Accordingly, Costco can attract more customers who prefer the warehousing services provided by the company.