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In a recent statement, Costco’s chief financial officer, Richard Galanti, announced that so far they do not plan to increase membership fees and if he does so in the future, he will let the affiliates know.
Costco is holding membership fees at all-time highs since its last increase in 2017 when it placed the Gold Star at $60 dollars and the executive at $120 dollars per year. Now that its sixth anniversary is approaching, expectations arise whether or not the company will increase rates.
In the Galanti statement, he pointed out that in recent years the growth of affiliates has been notorious and has remained strong. “We ended the second quarter with 68 million paid household members and 123 million cardholders, both more than 7% compared to the previous year”, highlighted in the report.
The international hypermarket chain that has a price club format commonly increases its membership fees approximately every five years and seven months, therefore, it is not surprising that this year, it announces a new fee. Membership renewals for example; in the United States and Canada they were 92%.
The report also details that the company managed to record more than $1 billion in revenue from membership payments, representing an increase of 6.2% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, the chain’s sales reached $54,000 million dollars, 6.5% compared to 2022.
“We continue to see some improvement in the sale of many items,” Galanti said, mentioning that he is optimistic that prices are cooling despite rising inflation. “The prices of raw materials are beginning to fall, not to return to the previous levels of the Covid, but, they continue to provide some relief in foods such as: chicken, bacon, butter, resin, nuts, among others, ”he added.
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