Costco And Its Reputation : Costco

The strategic objective of Costco is based on the concept of offering members very low prices on a limited selection of nationally branded and selected private label products in a wide range of merchandise categories while producing high sales volumes and rapid inventory turnover. This rapid inventory turnover, when combined with the operating efficiencies achieved by volume purchasing, efficient distribution and reduced handling of merchandise in no-frills, self service warehouse facilities, enables Costco to operate profitably at significantly lower gross margins than traditional wholesalers, discount retailers and supermarkets. (1)

1. What is Costco’s business model? Is the company’s business model appealing? Why or why not?

According to the Top 25 Companies for Compensation and Benefits 2014 that was released by Job-hunting site Glassdoor.com, Costco ranked 2th, which was just behind Google. Costco has one of the most competitive benefits packages in the industry. Its employees not only have a full spectrum of benefits, but also may elect coverage for their spouses, children and domestic partners. The company pays a larger percentage of the premiums than do most other retailers, and employee-paid premiums are withheld pre-tax, which means employees get to keep more of their hard-earned money. Costco even runs a website www.costcobenefits.com for its employees to learn its benefits plan.

When it comes to warehouse-style club stores, there are really only four names out there: Costco, Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart and BJ’s. This paper will discuss the Costco and BJ’s. The different type of strategies being utilized by each company, the purpose of the financial statements, their Vertical & Horizontal analysis, how each financial rations ties into the two company’s strategies, Solvency & Performance for each company, a SWOT analysis of each company and finally if the expectations of the stakeholders of each company are being met.

Because corporations are established to profit and shareholders invest money with expectations of a greater return, managers cannot be given a directive to be “socially responsible” without providing specific criteria of checks and balances to which needs to adhere. Therefore, it is imperative to the success of a corporation for managers to not act solely but rather to act within the policies of the shareholders.

Costco’s business model is focused on producing high sales volumes and rapid inventory turnover by offering members low prices on a limited selection of national name brands and select private-label products in a wide range variety. Costco is focused in low-cost strategy is concentrated on a narrow buy segment and out competing rivals by having lower costs, therefore being able serve a niche consumers at a lower price. (Gamble, John and Thompson, Arthur (2009)

Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.

In order for Costco to stay competitive in the market and ahead of its competitors, it is essential to venture into different products and services. Costco’s main products vary, which include: groceries and frozen products, fresh meats and produce, bakery goods, beverages and liquors, health and beauty products, seasonal goods, office products, appliances and electronics. To increase Costco’s product differentiation over its competitors and increase sales, Costco began to introduce other products; such as pharmacy, gasoline, auto insurance, and a food court. In addition, extends more services to executive card members that include check printing, payroll services, identity protection, free roadside assistance with Costco’s auto insurance, and traveling benefits.

There are many strengths of Costco’s business. One of the main strengths is customer loyalty. Last year in the U.S. and Canada, the customer membership renewal rate was ninety-one percent. The global customer membership renewal rate was eighty-eight percent. These high renewal rates

Some of the areas that get affected by global economic circumstances include investment, access to supplies, compensation of employees, hiring of employees, operations, social issues, labor practices, output, marketing, and expansion to new markets. This paper examines the impact of the current global economic and financial conditions on staffing, compensation, operations management, social issues, and labor practices of Costco. The business reality is that the current global economic and financial conditions have not led to cuts in compensation of employees and the slimming down of some of Costco’s outlets as it is the case with other stores such as Wal-Mart. Hiring has also not stalled and labor practices are now being carefully observed to minimize litigation costs. Additionally, contentious cultural and social issues are steered clear of as a way of avoiding any disturbances to an already unpredictable business climate. Costco’s operations management has assumed a leaner outlook with emphasis on quality services from smaller workforces.

Design of Goods and Services- Costco can be seen to be in their maturity stages of their life. Therefore, it is recommended for Costco to expand its Pharmacy department by at least 50%.

Costco is among the leading global retailers which provide customers a wide range of merchandise, ranging from small to well-known brands. The company began operations in 1983. Over the years, Costco has been a retailer in low cost membership-only leader, in warehouse club of merchandise. Moreover, Costco does not offer frills warehouse business models as its competitors do.  Costco’s major competitors are BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sam Club (Costco, 2010).

According to Deloitte’s 2014 Global Powers of Retailing Report, it identifies the 250 largest retailers around the world based on publicly available data for fiscal 2012 encompassing companies’ fiscal years ended through to June 2013; however, here mainly focuses on the Top 10 retailers’ analysis.

This is due to the fact that customers are forced to buy in bulk. A strategy taken by Costco wholesales to increase store turnover and profitability. Additionally, to increase its market influence, Costco has added services such as automobile, gas, optometry, pharmacy, and printing at very low prices in the past decade. “What’s better than to rotate my car’s tires, fill my prescription, gas my car, all the while I am finishing my shopping”, a dad might say while shopping at Costco. Finally, unlike any other mega-retailer, Costco has included its own employees as primary target market. By respecting the employees and paying them high wages, Costco has created a positive feedback loop for itself. Highly paid employees will have high loyalty toward the company, and they will shop at Costco for their needs. At the same time, due to their high loyalty, staff will provide high quality customer service for common customers. This generates positive word-of-mouth advertisement leading to an increase in membership sig-ups translating into higher profits for the company (Ingram, 2013).

Trader Joe’s forgoes advertising for a strategy of customer relationship management because advertising “can’t create an experience. It’s the personal relationship with these people that builds loyalty” according to St. John, vice president of Trader Joe’s (Guth, and Marsh 183-187). Through this strategy, Trader Joe’s has seen much success. At the time of this case study, analysts estimated annual revenues to be around 3 billion. Today they are estimated to be around 8.5 billion. The effect is that the company has grown and still continues to grow. Trader Joe’s has gone from having 220 stores in 17 states in 2004 to 356 stores in 28 states as of June 2011 (“Trader Joe’s”). One area of attention for Trader Joe’s is to not lose sight of this customer relationship strategy as it continues to grow into a national or even global company. The company needs to continue to “pay attention to the information it