Costco E-Commerce Sales Drop Nearly 6% in April

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. Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco currently operates 851 warehouses, including 585 in the United States and Puerto Rico.