Australian Costco sales could top $5bn
Costco is quickly racing to $5bn in annual sales in Australia and more than 1.5 million paid-up members at its warehouse-style supermarket stores, as the chain emerges as a new force in Australian retail with sales that now easily eclipse retail heavyweights Myer, David Jones, Target and Officeworks.
Its sales in 2023 lifted almost 20 per cent – at a time when supermarket majors Woolworths and Coles could only manage sales growth in the region of 5 per cent – with the USbased retailer also slashing its prices in Australia last year to counter fresh competitive challenges from its key supermarket rivals.
Costco Australia and New Zealand’s recently appointed chief executive, Chris Tingman, an American and 28-year veteran of Costco, said that the retailer known for its quirky array of goods – from coffins and hearing aids to diamond rings, jumbo packets of toilet paper and sushi platters – was helping Australian households stretch their dollars during tight times.
“We want to be the ‘go-to place’ – when you have money you shop at Costco, when you don’t have money you shop at Costco,” Mr Tingman said. “So we are not saying we are recessionproof. We just make sure that we are just consistent in the quality aspects, the differentiations in the market where it makes sense … and I’m learning the landscape here pretty quickly and everybody is the competition here.”
The latest accounts for Costco Australia reveal the $US292bn ($430bn) US retail giant made the right decision in 2009 when it opened its maiden Costco in Australia at Docklands in Melbourne, with it throwing off a trail of double-digit growth and an exploding membership base.
Costco Australia reported total sales of $4.4bn in 2023, up 19.8 per cent from $3.67bn in 2022 which represented a 30 per cent increase on the sales performance in 2021.
Costco Australia operates 15 stores locally and since its opening in 2009 it has raked in cumulative sales of just under $25bn. With its stores only accessible to paid-up members, it also makes money from selling memberships starting at $65 a year.