The wholesale retail chain has maintained its recent momentum with a sales increase of 15.8 per cent across the month of September.
Costco Wholesale Corp.’s sales rose to $19.50bn in September — the first months of its fiscal first quarter — from $16.84bn a year ago. The membership warehouse club’s total same-store sales increased 14.3 per cent, while online sales rose 10.6 per cent. Costco’s September sales increase compares with an increase of 16.2 per cent for August sales and 16.6 per cent for July.
In September, Costco reported that its fourth-quarter net sales rose 17.5 per cent to $61.44bn, topping the $60bn mark in quarterly net sales for the first time in its history. On the company’s earnings call, CFO Richard Galanti said that port delays, container shortages, Covid disruptions, shortages on various components, labour cost pressures and trucker and driver shortages are all putting pressure on supply chains and inflation. To ensure it gets what it needs, the company is placing orders earlier.
“We’ve also chartered three ocean vessels for the next year to transport containers between Asia and the US and Canada,” Galanti said. And we’ve leased several thousand containers for use on these ships.”
