Costco started in 1976 with a club store type membership, so customers needed to be identified and use a membership card in order to shop in the store. They got presence in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Mexico. This is a serious company where you can buy a lot of club priced products (large packages for almost everything) but they also have cool individual products like clothes, towels, bedding, etc.
Pros:
+ Solid, robust platform for purchases and order taking. They use same platform in all countries, so experience is unified.
+ In store physical shopping (not online) is great, everything is in order, clean, they get great quality products at decent prices. Membership is worth every penny, again, visiting their physical store.
+ I would recommend yes to use the online store, but always visiting the store first or calling over the phone, so you make sure you are not getting ripped off with more expensive online prices, like we noticed.
+User friendly: yes, the store is easy to use and shop in, it can be done fast and with good purchasing options. Its design is kind of square and not pleasant to watch, very corporate and serious.
Cons:
– Get up to 30% more expensive things on the online shop than in the physical Costco store, but hey, they give “free” shipping.
– Get free shipping in anything you order (but you get it more expensive, many prices are the same, others are much higher) and get patience, you will recieve your order in aprox. 10 days or more.
– Online shop will hardly fail, but it is not pleasant to use or navigate, it feels like you are not entirely welcome here.
Subscription costs: USD$ 55.00 dollars per year per card (can obtain an additional card for someone else purchasing this membership). This card will be valid in any costco worldwide, it is good to know they have their information systems working.
It is a great surprise to me that Costco online shopping is so frustrating, being that the real store shopping experience is so fantastic. It is a contradiction, but the conclusion is, do not shop online in Costco, just go to the store and purchase and hunt your deals there.
Other domains used by website: costco.com, costco.com.mx, costco.co.uk, costco.ca, metrics.costco.com, recs.richrelevance.com, google.com, newrelic.com, doubleclick.net
Last edition: April 30, 2014