Costco Executive Membership Hours
Important Limitations
Costco has a number of advantages, but there are also some disadvantages. Costco is currently facing some issues that could turn into problems in the near future. Things like memberships, omnichannel experiences, consumer preferences, and bulk buying, are all likely to affect the value chain of Costco.
One of the biggest problems with Costco’s business model is its dependence on memberships. As long as Costco’s members continue to buy in bulk, this strategy will work. However, several factors could change that. Customers could choose to move their memberships to a competitor, such as Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club. Only the selection is different between these two wholesale clubs, and it is based on consumer preferences. Costco may lose market share if the product range changes. Also, Costco competes against specialty retailers, such as Office Depot, PetSmart and Whole Foods. Costco’s products might not be the first choice for customers looking for such products. More broadly, Costco’s competitors also include: Sam’s Club (Wal-Mart), BJ’s Wholesale Club, Wal-Mart, Amazon, Home Depot, The Kroger Company, Target, Kmart, Lowe’s, Best Buy, and Aldi. Brotman said, “in virtually every market there’s someone we compete with.”
Currently, most retailers are adopting an omnichannel focus. The customers use various connected devices to research products and compare prices, shop online. Costco’s focus on warehouses allows it to maintain low prices, but does not provide the omnichannel customer experience that many expect. Costco has made some investments to achieve this goal. However, there are no guarantees that these efforts will succeed or that changes will be implemented on time so that Costco can remain competitive.
Costco could also be affected by changing consumer tastes. The company uses a warehouse approach. It buys certain items in large quantities and tries to get them sold as quickly as possible, but it only works if it can maintain those high volumes. If customer preferences change, Costco could be left with large amounts of unwanted, and possibly perishable, goods.
Some people may have a difficult time transporting bulk goods home. It can become a problem for people who live in cities and are unable to find parking near their building, or families with small children. Costco offers some online services, but there are other discount bulk providers such as Amazon’s Prime service and the newcomer, Jet (owned by Wal-Mart), that offer similar deals and free shipping. Amazon provides free 2-day shipping, a Prime Pantry for $99 a year and other benefits such as streaming videos. Jet has no membership fees and offers many similar deals to Amazon.
Costco is facing a problem, which is also a risk for the future, as people shop less in their stores. Eventually it is possible, maybe even probable, that Costco’s immunity to this trend, which has impacted so many other retailers, will end. Digital platforms are becoming more popular because of their convenience and ease. Due to this, many chains have closed, such as Sports Authority, Linens-N-Things and Borders Books. Circuit City is also among them. Costco is known for keeping its prices low. A social media manager could help the company improve its presence on social media.
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To tackle these major problems, Costco had to increase spending on everything from sampling to making sure its in-house restaurants remain an enticingly cheap way to eat a meal or snack. Costco focused on attracting people to its stores, because as more of their purchases are made online, they may find it harder to go out to the store to do some shopping.
In my analysis, Costco has no major strategic issues facing them at this moment. Costco’s business model has many appealing features, including a rapid turnover of inventory, high operating efficiency, and a profit with incredibly low margins. Its success is due to factors like internet sales, constant efforts to reduce costs, stock deals, treasure hunt merchandise, no hassle return policy and word-of-mouth advertising.
Costco employs a cost strategy that aims to penetrate pricing and a diversion buying strategy that gives customers a treasure hunt shopping experience. Of these strategies that Costco utilizes, the chief elements of low costs, low prices, limited products, and a treasure hunt environment are the main ingredients that put themselves above all competitors.
Bloomberg Businessweek published an article in 2017 warning Costco of its slow approach towards e-commerce. Costco launched its website in 1998, the same year Amazon.com launched, prior to Target and Wal-Mart’s ventures online. By 2017, Amazon.com was dominating e-commerce, and both Target and Wal-Mart had invested billions towards website development. Costco’s web presence lacked elements that were offered by competing web retailers, including in-store order pickup and an active social media presence. Bloomberg admitted that Costco seemed to be doing fine as overall revenue growth had surpassed competitor Sam’s Club for the prior five years, but warned that Costco’s “laissez-faire approach to online could prove a dangerous long-term game”. Robin Sherk is an analyst with Kantar Retail. She says that Costco has a successful business model, and why change it? Costco could be left behind if they wait too long.
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Although Costco does offer more items online compared to in-store (10,000 vs. 4,000, respectively), Costco knows that customers are more often than not compelled to purchase more than intended by the in-store free samples, its in-store treasure hunt experience, and other impulse buys. Costco knows its customers are older and less tech-dependent. Costco members now make up half the membership of Amazon Prime, an increase that was a dramatic 14% in five years. Amazon was offering goods at bulk prices that were comparable to Costco, and the acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon was in progress when the article appeared. Bloomberg was concerned that Costco’s customers would switch to Amazon. Costco’s advantage over Amazon was due to its grocery shopping. 93% of Costco members bought groceries, while only 18% used Amazon for food purchases. Whole Foods’ acquisition of Costco may bring some significant competition.
Wal-Mart had purchased Jet.com the year before, an online retailer. Bloomberg suggested that Costco consider making a similar purchase. Others suggested that Costco would benefit by offering online ordering with in-store pickup. Costco took small steps to reduce the processing cost of online orders by partnering with Instacard Shipt and Google Express. Costco also introduced bridal and baby gift registries for members. Brandon Fletcher, an investment analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, thought it wasn’t necessary to increase Costco’s ecommerce. However, Bloomberg reported that, despite Costco seeing a 11% rise in digital sales, the company still lagged behind ecommerce as a whole, which is growing by 15% per year.
By February 2019, Bloomberg Businessweek had changed its tune, declaring that Costco had beat out Amazon as a consumer favorite. Costco’s slow and steady e-commerce growth proved triumphant as Costco bested Amazon, the reigning champion of customer satisfaction in the internet retail category for seven years straight, by just a single point on the 2018 annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Costco was the first retailer to appear on this list. Rather than radically revamping its business strategy to compete with Amazon, as many other retailers were doing, Costco stuck to what it knew and proceeded to “perfect what’s been working for four decades.” Costco held onto its advantage in food market by embracing internet retail. In addition to its partnership with Instacart, Costco also introduced CostcoGrocery. CostcoGrocery offers two-day deliveries on web orders for “shelf stable” products to members. Instacart delivers same-day both to members and nonmembers. CostcoGrocery members would receive free shipping for purchases over $75, or they could choose to pick up their orders in store. By expanding its online offerings, Costco saw an online sales increase of 21% since July 2018. ACSI praised Costco’s success in e-commerce as well as its in-store performance.
Costco Gold Star Membership Benefits
Benefit
Executive Membership
Gold Star Membership
2% annual reward
Yes
No
Costco services discounts
Yes
No
Online shopping and warehouses
Yes
Yes
Receive two membership cards
Yes
You can say that.
100% satisfaction guarantee
Yes
You can say that.
The two main differences are a 2% reward each year — we’ll explain that in a moment — and if you want to save on Costco Services.
More than just a warehouse shopping experience, Costco offers a number of services to members. Executive members are able to get a discount on many of these services, including lower prices on check printing, auto buying, roadside assistance — complimentary for vehicles covered through the company’s auto insurance program — and extra travel benefits.
This alone can help you save money, but taking advantage of Costco services can offer a double benefit — the ability to receive discounted services while earning money toward the 2% annual reward. Costco Travel, for example, offers exclusive discounts on vacations and purchases that qualify will count towards your annual rewards.
Beyond that, an Executive Membership also comes with a subscription to the monthly Costco Connection magazine. The magazine includes advertisements for products, schedules of roadshows, interviews with Costco employees, and recipes.
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Costco Executive Membership Hours Timing/What Time Does Costco Open
If you have Costco Executive Membership, you should be aware of the shopping or opening hours. During weekdays, from Monday to Friday, shopping hours are from 10 AM to 8:30 PM. On Saturday, the shopping hours start from 9:30 AM and end at 6 PM. On Sunday, the shopping hours start from 10 AM and end at 6 PM. Existing Costco members should be aware that there are no longer any special shopping hours. Costco executive members used to be able to shop one hour before the rest of the public. It was easier to shop during the busy hours of the day and avoid crowds for everyone. But unfortunately, this benefit no longer exists. It means there are no exclusive hours for shopping for Costco Executive Membership. The shopping hours are now the same no matter what tier of membership you hold.
Differences In Costco Regular Membership And Executive Membership
Costco offers its members a number of advantages, such as exclusive discounts and deals on many products.
There are two different membership options available, regular (called Gold Star Membership) and executive.
Regular memberships cost $60 per year and provide access to all Costco locations worldwide. One household card is included.
Executive memberships cost $120 per year and offer additional benefits, such as 2% cash back on eligible purchases and exclusive access to executive-only events.
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Executive members also receive an annual bonus of $60 in Costco Cash, which can be used at any Costco location.
Costco offers business memberships for companies that wish to buy products in large quantities for resale. Costco’s business memberships begin at $60 per annum and include exclusive discounts and deals on many products. They also allow businesses to buy in bulk.
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