2. what could other retailers- both discount and full services retailers - learn from Costco? (
3. assess Costco's strategy in terms of its product mix of 4,000 sku's and its key appeals?
4. what are the basic principles underlying Costco's merchandising strategy? (Hessa)
5. Costco spends very little on promotion efforts. how is it able to attract shoppers without greater expenditures?
6. Describe the ideal location and store format for new Costco stores. (Hamza)
7. In looking to the future, discuss the SWOT analysis of Costco shown in Figure 2 - from the perspective of both Costco and Sam's Club? (Omar)
Costco
What could your business in the US learn from Costco? Costco thrashes other retailers, not through competing on cost. (NASDAQ: COST) As an alternative, they present an extremely targeted and subsequently sophisticated shopping experience.
Perhaps one of the main distinctions between Costco and other retailers is that the chain compensates fairly high earnings for trade. Luxury department stores can compensate high base earnings or high commissions since they can sustain big markups; however Costco's customers are more prices receptive. The huge benefits for Costco here are turnover, shrinkage, and public relations; however, these reasons do not look like sufficient to encourage other retailers to pay higher earnings.
Costco's choice to retain minimum markups is as well rather unusual. Retailers utilize low prices to draw customers, hence Costco does get a competitive advantage from restrictive markups, and however the majority of stores will increase the costs on popular stuff to make up for other goods with weaker margins. If a supplier slashes prices and customers are still ready to shell out store prices, other stores might maintain their prices as before, however not Costco.
Retailers in the US typically depend heavily on customers who utilize food stamps; however,