Costco E-Commerce Sales Drop Nearly 6% in April

Retailer has remained in an e-commerce slump for months

5/8/2023

Costco reported net sales of $17.85 billion for the retail month of April, an increase of 3.0% from $17.33 billion last year.

While Costco Wholesale Corp.’s comparable sales in the United States increased 0.9% and 1.4% company-wide for the retail month of April, e-commerce has continued to underperform. Online comparable sales for the month took a 5.9% tumble, which was actually an improvement from the March sales report that showed an e-commerce comp sales slide of 12.7%. Costco has remained in an e-commerce slump for months now.

Worldwide average transactions also fell 3.6% in April, the company said.

However, comp traffic for April was up 5.2% worldwide and 4.0% in United States. In terms of regional and merchandising categories, U.S. regions with the strongest comparable sales for the month were the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast.

The retailer's April’s sales report showed similarities to March, with resiliency in food and downturns in nonfoods. Comparable sales for food and sundries in April were positive in the high single digits. Fresh was also up in the single digits. Underperforming departments were big-ticket items like jewelry, home furnishings and electronics.

Overall, the membership club reported net sales of $17.85 billion for April, an increase of 3% from $17.33 billion last year. Also, for the 35 weeks ended April 30, the company reported net sales of $155.62 billion, a 5.6% jump from $147.33 billion last year.

Costco will report its third-quarter earnings on May 25.

Meanwhile, the upstate New York town of Guilderland recently got the greenlight to develop the region’s first Costco store. The Times Union reported that the new Costco is slated for the northeast corner of the intersection of Western Avenue and Crossgates Mall Road. The 163,000-square-foot retail facility will include 770 parking spaces, a tire center, an 18-pump gas station and eight charging stations for electric vehicles. It will be Costco’s first location in the Albany area.

Developers can break ground once the required roundabout at the intersection of the Interstate 87 off-ramp and Crossgates Mall Road is completed to address the area’s higher-than-average accident history. Construction of the roundabout is slated to conclude in July.

Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco currently operates 851 warehouses, including 585 in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company is No. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG has also named Costco one of its Retailers of the Century.