Costco Visits Increased Over Summer Months
Costco Wholesale outperformed its competitors in terms of increased visits this summer, according to new data from retail analytics firm Placer.ai.
Per visit data from the past five months, Costco’s relative visit share within the superstore space has steadily grown over the past couple years, and the wholesale club led its category in terms of year-over-year (YoY) visit growth during the recent back-to-school season.
In June, July and August of this year, overall visits to Costco clubs increased 3.6%, 4.5% and 3.0% YoY respectively, while the total wholesale clubs and superstores sector saw YoY visits decreases of -0.4%, -0.4% and -1.9%. Average visits per venue at Costco increased 1.5% in June, 2.0% in July and 0.7% in August, while the rest of the category saw negative growth over those three months.
Between January and August 2023, Costco nationwide saw a YoY increase of 1.9% in overall visits, while average visits per venue stayed relatively stable. During that same period, the chain underperformed its nationwide benchmark in the states with its highest club count (California, Texas and Washington) in terms of both YoY overall visits and average visits per venue.
Meanwhile, Costco in its next three largest markets (Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey) outperformed its nationwide benchmark. In New Jersey and Illinois in particular, where the chain does not seem to have opened new venues recently, January to August 2023 visits (and average visits per venue) increased by 6.0% and 4.9%, respectively, relative to the same period in 2022.
Part of Costco’s summer success was back-to-school shopping. Placer.ai notes that July and August 2023, the share of returning visitors actually increased relative to 2022 – growing from 52.9% to 54.1%. Meanwhile, the median visit time remained constant at 37 minutes, the longest median visit time seen all year.