For the fiscal month of December, Costco Wholesale Corp. posted net sales of $27.52 billion, up 9.9% from the year-earlier period.
Comparable sales, with the effect of changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange excluded, were up 9.9% versus the fiscal month a year prior, with comps in the United States up 9.8%, those in Canada up 10.3% and those in other international markets up 9.8%.
E-commerce comps grew 35.7% in fiscal December year over year, boosted by an estimated 15 percentage points, as Thanksgiving/Black Friday/Cyber Monday occurred a week later than they did in 2023. Total and comparable sales got a one-and-one-half point lift as a result of the shift in E-commerce sales, Costco noted.
In a conference call, the company stated that traffic in the U.S. gained 5.3% in fiscal December versus the year-earlier period. The best U.S. sales regions were the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast. As for merchandise categories, Nonfoods was up in the high teens, led by jewelry, gift cards and toys and seasonal. Food & Sundries comps were up in the mid-single digits, while Fresh Food comps were up in the high single digits.
Costco operates 897 warehouses clubs, including 617 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 109 in Canada, 41 in Mexico, 36 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 19 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, two in France, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco operates e-commerce websites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
