Costco Introduction

Costco Wholesale Corporation is the seventh largest retailer in the world. As of July 2012 it was the fifth largest retailer in the United States, and the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. As of October 2007, Costco is the largest retailer of wine in the world.

Location
Costco is headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, United States and was founded in 1983 in Kirkland, Washington with its first warehouse in nearby Seattle. Today Costco has locations in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and the United States.

History
Founded by James (Jim) Sinegal and Jeffrey H. Brotman, Costco opened its first warehouse in Seattle, Washington, on September 15, 1983.Sinegal had started in wholesale distribution by working for Sol Price at both FedMart and Price Club. Brotman, an attorney from an old Seattle retailing family, had also been involved in retail distribution from an early age.Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton had plans to merge Sam's Club with Price Club.[10] In 1993, however, Costco merged with Price Club (called Club Price in the Canadian province of Quebec). Costco's business model and size were similar to those of Price Club, which was founded by Sol and Robert Price in 1976 in San Diego, California. Thus, the combined company, PriceCostco, was effectively double the size of each of its parents. Just after the merger, PriceCostco had 206 locations generating $16 billion in annual sales PriceCostco was initially led by executives from both companies, but then Sol and his son Robert Price founded Price Enterprises and left Costco in December 1994.The first Price Club location was opened in 1976 in an old airplane hangar, previously owned by Howard Hughes, and is still in operation today (Warehouse No. 401, located on Morena Boulevard in San Diego).In 1997, the company changed its name to Costco Wholesale and all Price Club locations were rebranded Costco.CNBC premiered its documentary "The Costco Craze: Inside the Warehouse Giant" on April 26, 2012.

Sales model
Costco focuses on selling products at low prices, often at very high volume. These goods are usually bulk-packaged and marketed primarily to large families and businesses. Furthermore, Costco does not carry multiple brands or varieties where the item is essentially the same except when it has a house brand to sell, typically under the Kirkland Signature label. This results in a high volume of sales from a single vendor, allowing further reductions in price, and reducing marketing costs. If Costco management feels the wholesale price of a product is too high, they will refuse to stock the product. For example, on November 16, 2009, Costco announced that it would stop selling Coca-Cola products due to the soft drink maker refusing to lower its wholesale prices. Costco resumed selling Coca-Cola products on December 14, 2009. Costco also saves money by not stocking extra bags or packing materials; to carry out their goods, customers must bring their own bags or use the merchandise shipping boxes from the company's outside vendors. Lighting costs are reduced on sunny days, as most Costco locations have several skylights. During the day, electronic light meters measure how much light is coming in the skylights and turn off an appropriate percentage of the interior lights. During a typical sunny day, it is very common for the center section of the warehouse to have no interior lights powered on. Most products are delivered to the warehouse on shipping pallets and these pallets are used to display products for sale on the warehouse floor. This contrasts with retail stores that break down pallets and stock individual products on shelves. Costco limits its price markup on items to 15%.

Products
Over the years, Costco has gradually expanded its range of products and services. Initially it preferred to sell only boxed products that could be dispensed by simply tearing the shrink wrap off a pallet. It now sells many other products that are more difficult to handle, such as fresh produce, meat, dairy, seafood, fresh baked goods, flowers, clothing, books, computer software, vacuums, Home appliances, home electronics, solar panels, jewelry, tires, art, fine wine, hot tubs, furniture and caskets. Many warehouses have tire garages, pharmacies, hearing aid centers, optometrists, photo processors, and gas stations. Optometrists working at Costco locations will see patients without Costco memberships.

Costco Optical ranks as the fourth-largest optical company in the US. A membership is required to fill a prescription at the optical department. Some locations have liquor stores, often kept separate from the main warehouse in order to comply with liquor license restrictions. In some states (such as Texas), the liquor store must be owned and operated by a separate company with separate employees. In 2006, Costco lost a lawsuit against the state of Washington in which it was seeking to purchase wine directly from the producer, bypassing the state retail monopoly. In Australia, Costco has to comply with regulations set by each state they choose trade in; their first store in the state of Victoria benefits from some of the most liberal alcohol licensing laws in the country, with retailers permitted to sell alcohol on shelves within the store, in a manner similar to most European countries, yet they have chosen to have a separate checkout within the liquor section. Kirkland Signature is Costco's store brand, otherwise known in the retail industry as an "ownbrand," "house brand" or "private label." It is found exclusively at Costco's website and Costco warehouses and is trademarked by the company. The name derives from the fact that Costco's corporate headquarters was located in the city of Kirkland, Washington between 1987 and 1996. Costco introduced Kirkland Signature as its house brand in 1995. The idea was to identify categories in which a private label product could provide brand name quality at discounted prices. To counteract the consumer confidence problem common in store branding, Kirkland Signature sometimes relies on co-branding. According to Costco, while consumers may be wary of same-store-branding, they are less likely to be wary of brands that they are familiar with and trust.

Policies
Costco memberships can be refunded in full at any time before they expire. Costco guarantees almost all of their products with a full refund within a reasonable amount of time. Exceptions include televisions, projectors, computers, cameras, camcorders, digital audio players, and cellular phones; these may be returned within 90 days of purchase for any reason for a refund. After 90 days those returns must be done through the manufacturer according to

the terms of the warranty. Also excepted are tires (which are covered by their manufacturer's separate defects and treadware warranties) and batteries (which are covered by a 36/100month warranty, where they may be replaced for free in the first 36 months and are covered under a pro-rated warranty for months 37-100). Costco has negotiated with manufacturers to extend the manufacturers warranty to two years for new TVs and computers (five years on TV's sold by Costco in the UK). Costco also offers a free "concierge" service to members who purchase electronics, to help answer questions regarding setup and use and avoid potential returns due to not understanding how to use the products.

Costco today
In the United States, the main competitors operating membership warehouses are Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club. Although Sam's Club has more warehouses] than Costco, Costco has higher total sales volume. Costco employs about 142,000 full and part-time employees,including seasonal workers. As of September 2009 Costco had 55 million members. Costco was the first company to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales in less than six years. For the fiscal year ending on August 31, 2009, the company's sales totaled $71.42 billion, with $1.09 billion net profit. Costco is 25th on the 2010 Fortune 500. The ACSI (The American Customer Satisfaction Index) named Costco number one in the specialty retail store industry with a score of 83 in Q4 2008. As of September 2010,[19] Costco's board of directors is chaired by co-founder Jeffrey H. Brotman and includes three officers of the company: CEO/co-founder James D. Sinegal, President/COO W. Craig Jelinek, and CFO Richard A. Galanti. There are also eleven independent directors: Hamilton E. James (the "Lead Independent Director"), Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., Susan Decker, Richard D. DiCerchio, Daniel J. Evans, William H. Gates, Sr., Richard M. Libenson, John W. Meisenbach, Charles T. Munger, Jeff Raikes, and Jill Ruckelshaus. In the United States, Costco is closed on seven holidays: New Year's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Conclusion:
Above statement will give the overview of costco. It will give us complete structure of one retail institution.

PSR ENGINEERING COLLEGE SIVAKASI DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

ASSIGNMENT-I

SUBJECT:

RETAIL MANAGEMENT

TOPIC:

RETAIL INSTITUTE INFORMATION

SUBMITTED TO MR.R.KASIRAMAN.B.E.,M.B.A

SUBMITTED BY M.PONSURESH I-MBA

SUBMISSION DATE: 27.10.2012