COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP

Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) operates a global membership warehouse business model designed to deliver high-quality merchandise at consistently low prices. The company's website is www.costco.com. As of August 31, 2025, Costco operated 914 warehouses worldwide and employed 341,000 people globally, with approximately 95 percent working in membership warehouses and distribution channels.

The company's core business centers on membership warehouses offering a limited selection of nationally-branded and private-label products across multiple categories including foods and sundries, non-foods, fresh foods, and warehouse ancillary services. Costco's merchandise strategy emphasizes rapid inventory turnover and high sales volumes, enabling profitable operations at significantly lower gross margins than traditional retailers. The company carries fewer than 4,000 active stock keeping units per warehouse in its core business, substantially less than broadline retailers, while its e-commerce operations average 9,000 to 10,000 SKUs.

Geographically, Costco's U.S. and Canadian operations comprised 86 percent of net sales and 84 percent of operating income in 2025, with California alone representing 26 percent of U.S. net sales. International operations span Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Sweden, Iceland, and New Zealand, generating 27 percent of net sales and 34 percent of operating income.

The company operates 747 gas stations representing approximately 10 percent of total net sales, while e-commerce represents approximately 7 percent of total net sales. Digitally-enabled sales, including Costco Travel services, represented approximately 10 percent of total net sales. The company's membership base totaled 145.2 million cardholders at the end of 2025, with Executive members representing 73.6 percent of worldwide net sales.

Costco's proprietary Kirkland Signature private-label brand carries higher margins than national brands and represents a growing portion of overall sales. The company's competitive advantages include its membership model, efficient distribution network utilizing cross-docking depots, high employee retention rates, and strong brand recognition built over four decades of operations since its 1983 founding in Seattle, Washington.