Another Bumper Year For Costco UK

Namnews, 30th June 2022

Recently filed accounts for Costco’s warehouses and e-commerce operation in the UK confirm the business benefited from the surge in demand for groceries during the pandemic.

Figures covering the 52 weeks to 29 August 2021 show the US giant’s British subsidiary saw turnover climb 14.4% to £3.58bn, having risen 15.7% the year before.

Operating profit jumped 149.7% to £84.4m after gross margin rose from 3.5% to 4.5%. Costco said that it had benefited from economies of scale as volumes rose, especially in e-commerce.

The company stated that growth in its warehouses was strong across nearly all major categories, with footfall created by raised demand for groceries, fresh food and drink, driving sales performance in other departments.

Costco noted that an increase in basket size more than offset a slight reduction in shopper frequency during the pandemic. It also said membership sign-ups had remained strong.

However, it highlighted that the business had faced “significant” disruptions within the supply chain, an issue which continued after the year’s end.

Costco currently operates 29 outlets in the UK. It has not said whether more are planned, but recent investment has focused on developing its e-commerce operation. The group said that it was now seeing increasing site traffic from mobile devices after improvements in this area.