Costco’s closest competitor is Walmart’s Sam’s Club: 601.0 U.S. clubs with $95.5B of revenue, against Costco’s 939 warehouses and $303.2B. Walmart as a whole ($713.2B) and Target ($104.8B) compete on everyday goods; Costco sells about $323M per warehouse vs about $159M per Sam’s Club (calculated).
Correction (11 Oct 2026): the earlier text said Costco operates “785 warehouses in 10 countries”. Its fiscal 2023 10-K reports 861 warehouses and its fiscal 2026 10-K 939 in 14 countries (FY2023 10-K, FY2026 10-K).
How we source: figures on this page come from the company’s own filings (SEC 10-K, 10-Q and earnings releases, or its annual report), with the period stated next to each number. Last refreshed October 2026. Our methodology.
Costco vs rivals: 3.2ร Samโs Club. Source: Costco Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (52 weeks to 30 Aug 2026), SEC EDGAR: revenue, operating income, comparable sales, competitors; Walmart Form 10-K fiscal 2026 (revenue, operating income, Sam’s Club U.S. segment); Target Form 10-K fiscal 2025 (net sales, operating income, comparable sales). Different fiscal year ends. Margins calculated. Bars to scale. Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Company
Revenue
Op. margin*
Stores
Costco (FY26)
$303.2B
3.9%
939
Sam’s Club U.S. (FY26)
$95.5B
2.6%
601
Walmart (FY26)
$713.2B
4.2%
10,955
Target (FY25)
$104.8B
4.9%
1,995
Source: Latest 10-K of each company (SEC EDGAR). *Calculated.
What drives the difference
Throughput. Costco’s warehouses sell about twice as much as a Sam’s Club each, with a 3.9% operating margin vs Sam’s Club’s 2.6% (calculated).
Membership. Costco’s $5.9B of fees fund low prices; Walmart’s membership and other income was $6.8B across all segments (Walmart 10-K).
What to watch
Membership renewals: 92.3% in the U.S. and Canada, 89.8% worldwide in fiscal 2026 (Costco fiscal 2026 10-K).
Executive members: 42.3 million, 75.2% of sales.
Warehouse growth: 25 net new warehouses in fiscal 2026, to 939.
Earlier analysis and background (pre-2026 figures)
The text below is the earlier version of this page. Its figures refer to earlier periods and some were corrected above; the current, sourced figures are in the sections above.
Competitive Landscape
Costco vs. Competitors
Key players competing across Costco’s core markets
Key Competitive Overlaps
โ
Walmart
Both compete in the general merchandise and retail market, offering a diverse selection of products to consumers.
โ
Amazon
Both compete in e-commerce and online retail, with Amazon offering a broader range of services and a global reach.
โ
Target
Both compete in the general merchandise and retail market, offering a diverse selection of products to consumers.
โ
Sam’s Club
Both compete in the warehouse club market, targeting customers seeking savings on bulk purchases.
โ
BJ’s Wholesale Club
Both compete in the warehouse club market, providing savings on bulk purchases through membership models.
โ
Kroger
Both compete in the grocery and supermarket sector, offering a range of food products, but Kroger specializes in groceries.
โ
Home Depot
Both compete in the home improvement and DIY market, offering products and services for home renovation and maintenance.
โ
Lowe’s
Both compete in the home improvement and DIY market, providing products and services for home renovation and repair.
โ
Dollar General
Both compete in the discount retail market, offering budget-friendly products, but Dollar General has a focus on smaller communities.
โ
Walgreens
Both compete in the pharmacy and retail market, offering healthcare products and prescription services, but Walgreens specializes in pharmac
Costco faces competition from a range of competitors in the retail industry. Walmart, Target, and Kmart compete as general merchandise retailers, while Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club are competitors in the wholesale club segment. Kroger, Albertsons, and Publix are grocery retailers, and Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba are online retail rivals. The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards are competitors in the home improvement retail space.
Description: A multinational retail corporation offering a wide range of products, including groceries, electronics, clothing, and more. Walmart competes with Costco in the general merchandise and retail market.
Key Insights: Walmart operates retail stores and an online platform, selling a variety of products, often emphasizing affordability and convenience.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the general merchandise and retail market, offering a diverse selection of products to consumers.
Differentiation: Walmart’s extensive presence and focus on low prices and convenience.
Amazon
Description: A multinational e-commerce and technology company known for its online marketplace, Prime membership, and cloud services. Amazon competes with Costco in e-commerce, online retail, and Amazon Prime memberships.
Key Insights:Amazon offers an extensive online marketplace, cloud computing services, and Prime membership benefits, competing with Costco in online retail and subscription services.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in e-commerce and online retail, with Amazon offering a broader range of services and a global reach.
Differentiation: Amazon’s vast product selection, Prime benefits, and cloud services.
Target
Description: A large American retail corporation offering a wide range of products, including groceries, electronics, clothing, and home goods. Target competes with Costco in the general merchandise and retail market.
Key Insights: Target operates retail stores and an online platform, selling a variety of products, often emphasizing stylish and affordable merchandise.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the general merchandise and retail market, offering a diverse selection of products to consumers.
Differentiation: Target’s reputation for stylish and affordable merchandise.
Sam’s Club
Description: A membership-based warehouse club retailer similar to Costco, offering bulk quantities of products at low prices. Sam’s Club competes directly with Costco in the warehouse club market.
Key Insights: Sam’s Club provides a membership-based shopping experience with bulk quantities of products, catering to businesses and consumers.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the warehouse club market, targeting customers seeking savings on bulk purchases.
Differentiation: Sam’s Club’s membership model and focus on bulk quantities.
BJ’s Wholesale Club
Description: A membership-based warehouse club retailer similar to Costco and Sam’s Club, offering bulk quantities of products at discounted prices. BJ’s Wholesale Club competes with Costco in the warehouse club market.
Key Insights: BJ’s Wholesale Club offers a membership-based shopping experience with bulk quantities of products and competitive prices, targeting consumers and businesses.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the warehouse club market, providing savings on bulk purchases through membership models.
Differentiation: BJ’s Wholesale Club’s membership benefits and product offerings.
Kroger
Description: An American retail company operating a chain of supermarkets, convenience stores, and other grocery-related businesses. Kroger competes with Costco in the grocery and supermarket sector.
Key Insights: Kroger operates supermarkets and offers groceries, organic foods, and convenience store products, focusing on providing a wide variety of food options.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the grocery and supermarket sector, offering a range of food products, but Kroger specializes in groceries.
Differentiation: Kroger’s focus on a wide variety of food options and convenience.
Home Depot
Description: An American home improvement retail company offering a range of products for home renovation, construction, and maintenance. Home Depot competes with Costco in the home improvement and DIY market.
Key Insights: Home Depot provides products and services for home improvement, including tools, materials, and appliances, targeting DIY enthusiasts and contractors.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the home improvement and DIY market, offering products and services for home renovation and maintenance.
Differentiation: Home Depot’s specialization in home improvement and contractor services.
Lowe’s
Description: An American home improvement and appliance retail company similar to Home Depot, offering products for home renovation and repair. Lowe’s competes with Costco in the home improvement and DIY market.
Key Insights: Lowe’s operates retail stores and offers home improvement products, appliances, and services, catering to homeowners and contractors.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the home improvement and DIY market, providing products and services for home renovation and repair.
Differentiation: Lowe’s focus on home improvement and appliance sales.
Dollar General
Description: An American chain of variety stores offering a range of low-priced products, including household essentials, groceries, and personal care items. Dollar General competes with Costco in the discount retail market.
Key Insights: Dollar General operates stores providing a wide range of low-priced products, often located in smaller communities and rural areas.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the discount retail market, offering budget-friendly products, but Dollar General has a focus on smaller communities.
Differentiation: Dollar General’s presence in smaller communities and rural areas.
Walgreens
Description: An American pharmacy retail chain offering prescription medications, health and wellness products, cosmetics, and convenience items. Walgreens competes with Costco in the pharmacy and retail market.
Key Insights: Walgreens operates pharmacies and retail stores, providing healthcare products, prescription medications, and convenience items.
Competitive Overlap: Both compete in the pharmacy and retail market, offering healthcare products and prescription services, but Walgreens specializes in pharmacy and convenience items.
Differentiation: Walgreens’ focus on pharmacy services and healthcare products.
FourWeekMBABusiness EngineerAt a glance
Walmart, Target, and Kmart compete as general merchandise retailers, while Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club are competitors in the wholesale club segment.
Amazon competes with Costco in e-commerce, online retail, and Amazon Prime memberships.
Sam's Club competes directly with Costco in the warehouse club market.
BJ's Wholesale Club competes with Costco in the warehouse club market.
Layout refreshed 6 October 2026. The article text below is unchanged.
Why it mattersFrom the article
Both compete in the warehouse club market, targeting customers seeking savings on bulk purchases.
General Merchandise Retailers:
Walmart: A multinational retail corporation operating a chain of hypermarkets.
Target: A major retail chain offering various products and services.
Kmart: A retail chain providing a diverse selection of products.
Wholesale Clubs:
Sam’s Club: A membership-only retail warehouse club.
BJ’s Wholesale Club: A membership-based warehouse club chain.
Walmart (Sam’s Club): The warehouse club division of Walmart.
Grocery Retailers:
Kroger: A supermarket chain offering groceries and other household items.
Albertsons: A retail company operating grocery stores and pharmacies.
Publix: A supermarket chain providing a range of grocery products.
Online Retailers:
Amazon: A multinational technology company and online marketplace.
eBay: An online auction and shopping website.
Alibaba: A Chinese multinational conglomerate operating various online platforms.
Home Improvement Retailers:
The Home Depot: A home improvement retailer offering construction and DIY products.
Lowe’s: A retail company selling home improvement and appliance products.
Menards: A chain of home improvement stores operating in the Midwest.
Key Highlights:
General Merchandise Retailers Competition: Costco competes with general merchandise retailers like Walmart, Target, and Kmart, which offer a variety of products and services to customers.
Wholesale Clubs Rivals: Competitors in the wholesale club segment include Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club, providing membership-based retail warehouse options.
Grocery Retailers Challengers: Kroger, Albertsons, and Publix are competitors in the grocery retail sector, offering groceries and household items.
Online Retailers Alternatives: Online retail giants like Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba also compete with Costco in the online shopping space.
Home Improvement Retailers Competition: Costco faces competition from home improvement retailers such as The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menards.
How AI Is Changing This
Walmart, Costco’s primary competitor, has deployed AI-powered compute โ as explored in the economics of AI compute infrastructure โ r vision systems in its stores to revolutionize inventorymanagement and reduce checkout friction. The retail giant’s “Intelligent Retail Lab” uses thousands of cameras equipped with AI algorithms to monitor shelf stock levels in real-time, automatically detecting when products are running low and triggering restocking alerts to associates. This technology eliminates the traditional manual inventory checks that Costco still relies on, allowing Walmart to maintain optimal stock levels while reducing labor costs. Additionally, Walmart’s AI system can identify pricing discrepancies, track product placement effectiveness, and even detect potential theft patterns. The company has also implemented AI-powered self-checkout systems that can recognize produce items without barcodes, significantly reducing wait times. This technological advantage puts pressure on Costco to modernize its operations, as Walmart’s AI integration creates a more efficient shopping experience while lowering operational expenses, potentially allowing for more competitive pricing on bulk goods.
Costco’s strategy can be summarized as primarily a selection of high-quality items sold in bulk in warehouses around the US and Canada, with a substantial part of its business focused on selling merchandise at a low-profit margin. Costco also uses a single-step distributionstrategy to sell its inventory before it gets paid to suppliers. Costco generated almost $242.29 billion in revenue in 2023, of which $4.58 billion came from 71 million paid members.
Costco is a large American multinational corporation with a focus on low-cost, membership-only retail warehouse clubs. Costco is the 4th largest retail operator in the world, operating 785 warehouses in 10 different countries. Indeed, it has enjoyed rapid success growing from zero to $3 billion in sales within six years.
Costco runs a high-quality, low-priced business model powered by its memberships that draw customers’ loyalty and repeat purchases. Top institutional investors comprise The Vanguard Group, 8.98%, and BlackRock, 6.76%. Top individual shareholders include Craig Jelinek, Chief Executive Officer of Costco, and Charles T. Munger (Warren Buffet partner and co-owner of Berkshire Hathaway).
The wholesale model is a selling model where wholesalers sell their products in bulk to a retailer at a discounted price. The retailer then on-sells the products to consumers at a higher price. In the wholesale model, a wholesaler sells products in bulk to retail outlets for onward sale. Occasionally, the wholesaler sells direct to the consumer, with supermarket giant Costco the most obvious example.
Costco generated $242.29 billion in revenue and $6.29 billion in profits in 2023, compared to almost $227 billion in revenue in 2022, nearly $196 billion in revenue in 2021, and over $166 billion in revenue in 2020. Costco also generated $5.84 billion in net income in 2022, compared to $5 billion in 2021 and $5 billion in 2020.
Costco generated $4.58 billion in membership revenue in 2023, compared to $4.2 billion in membership revenue in 2022, compared to $3.87 billion in 2021 and $3.54 in 2020.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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