Costco’s e-commerce growth helps fuel sales rise

Costco’s robust e-commerce growth helped fuel strong comparable sales in July.

The warehouse club retailer said that sales in July rose 14.1% to $13.04 billion, from $11.43 billion in the year-ago period.

Total company same-store sales rose 13.2%, including a 13.3% increase in the U.S.  Excluding the impact from a change in gasoline prices and foreign exchange, total same-store sales increased 15.8%.

E-commerce comparable sales surged 75.3%.

For the forty-eight weeks ended August 2, 2020, Costco reported net sales of $149.66 billion, an increase of 8.8% from $137.56 billion during the year-ago period. The company is scheduled to report fiscal fourth-quarter results Sept. 24.

Costco currently operates 790 warehouses, including 548 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 100 in Canada, 39 in Mexico, 29 in the United Kingdom, 27 in Japan, 16 in Korea, 13 in Taiwan, 12 in Australia, three in Spain, and one each in Iceland, France, and China. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.