Summer started out well for Costco, which posted solid sales and comparable sales increases in July.
Comparable sales, excluding the effects of fuel prices and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, were up 7% year over year for the company, with comps in the United States up 6.5%, those in Canada up 9.1% and those in other international markets up 7.5%. E-commerce comps were up 14.9%, Costco noted.
In a conference call, the company reported that comp traffic was up 4.3% in the U.S. The strongest performing regions in the U.S were the Northwest, Midwest and the Southeast. In terms of merchandising categories, Nonfoods was up in the high single digits, led by gift cards, jewelry and men’s apparel. Food and Sundries was up mid single digits and Fresh Foods was up high single digits.
Costco operates 910 warehouse stores, including 626 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 110 in Canada, 41 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, two in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland and New Zealand. Costco also operates e-commerce websites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
