Costco Wholesale (COST) FY2026 results: revenue $303.2 billion, up 10.1% on the year

Costco runs membership warehouses. Shoppers pay an annual fee for the right to buy, and in return the company carries a limited selection of goods, many in large pack sizes, at low prices. It began in Seattle in 1983 and now runs warehouses across North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific, with e-commerce sites in nine countries.

Where it operates

Costco operated 939 warehouses worldwide at 30 August 2026, against 914 a year earlier and 890 the year before that. They sit in the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, the United Kingdom, Korea, Australia, Taiwan, China, Spain, France, Sweden, Iceland and New Zealand. E-commerce sites run in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and China. The average warehouse covers about 148,000 square feet, with newer ones a little larger. Floor plans are built around moving merchandise rather than displaying it, goods sit on pallets and on racks above the sales floor, and the buildings are deliberately plain. Opening hours are shorter than at many other retailers.

What it sells, and how little of it

The core categories are foods and sundries, non-foods, and fresh foods. Alongside them sit the warehouse ancillary businesses, which operate inside or next to the warehouse and pull members back more often: gasoline, pharmacy, food court, optical, hearing aids and tire installation. A third group holds e-commerce, business centers, travel and the rest. Costco operated 774 gas stations at the end of 2026, and gasoline came to 11% of total net sales. Digitally enabled sales, which include Costco Travel and anything ordered on a device whether it ships from a warehouse or a distribution center, also came to 11%.

The company limits most items to fast-selling models, sizes and colors. A core warehouse carries fewer than 4,000 active stock keeping units, fewer than other broadline retailers carry. Online the range averages from 9,000 to 11,000. Many consumable goods are sold only by the case, carton or multiple-pack. Costco buys most of its merchandise straight from suppliers, with no one supplier accounting for a large share. It also buys and manufactures private-label goods under its Kirkland Signature brand, and the company says it expects to keep raising their share of sales.

The membership

The annual fee is $65 in the United States and varies in other countries, and includes a free household card. Paid members in most countries can upgrade to Executive membership for an extra annual fee, which generally earns a 2% reward on qualified purchases up to an annual maximum, redeemable in the warehouses. The filing counts memberships in thousands: 84,100 paid memberships at the end of 2026, of which 42,300 were Executive, plus 66,300 household cards, making 150,400 cardholders in all. Executive members accounted for about 75.2% of worldwide net sales in 2026. The renewal rate was 92.3% in the U.S. and Canada and 89.8% worldwide.

How the goods reach the shelf

Merchandise goes from the supplier either to a cross-docking depot or straight to a warehouse. The depots take large shipments in and move them out to warehouses quickly, which cuts the handling steps a conventional distribution chain adds. E-commerce orders ship through the same depots and logistics operations, and also through drop-ship and other arrangements with suppliers. Costco often sells stock before it has to pay the supplier for it, while still taking early-payment discounts. The company says volume buying, that distribution method and the no-frills warehouse together are what let it run at gross margins well below those of most other retailers.

The people and the competition

Costco employed 355,000 people at the end of 2026, about 95% of them in its warehouses and distribution channels. It names Walmart, Target, Kroger and Amazon among what it calls its significant general merchandise retail competitors in the U.S., and other warehouse clubs, including Walmart's Sam's Club and BJ's Wholesale Club.

From Costco's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 30 August 2026. The filing

Written from the 10-K filed 7 October 2026: read the full 10-K.