US-based warehouse club giant Costco Wholesale Corporation has reported net sales of $11.02 billion (€9.32 billion) for the month of May, which is a 14.1% increase on the same period last year.
The group said that its comparable US sales were up 11.7% in the period, while Canada saw a 13.0% gain.
Its International division posted a 9.4% increase in May, while e-commerce sales were up by more than a third (34.4%).
For the first thirty-nine weeks of fiscal year 2018, the company reported net sales of $103.26 billion, which is an increase of 12.1% on the same period last year.
Global Growth
Costco currently operates 750 warehouses, including 520 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 98 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 Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
