For the month of December, Costco reported net sales of $23.8 billion for the retail month of December, the five weeks ended January 1, up 7% year over year.
Comparable sales, excluding the effects of fuel price and foreign exchange volatility, were up 6.4% in the United States, 10.9% in Canada, 9.1% in other international markets and 7.3% for the company, Costco reported. E-commerce comps slipped 5.4%.
In a conference call, the company stated that shopper traffic advanced 3.6% in the U.S. Strongest U.S. sales regions were the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast. By merchandising category, Nonfoods comps were slightly positive led by tires, sporting goods, apparel and health and beauty, as Food and Sundries comps gained in the low teens and Fresh Food comps gained in the mid-single digits.
Costco operates 847 warehouses including 583 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 14 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco operates e-commerce websites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
