Costco Sweden off to a modest start
The retail magazine Market.se reported that Costco's turnover for the first full year in Sweden reached 556 million SEK (approx. 50 million €). This is clearly less than the average first-year turnover for a Costco warehouse. According to the 2023 annual report, the average warehouse opened in 2023 sold $151 million in its first year.
Costco warehouse sales growth over time
Sales in Sweden must have been influenced to some extent by the fact that Costco was a brand-new operator and quite a new concept (Snabbgross is probably quite close) in the country.
Costco's outgoing CFO, Richard Galanti, stated in the last interim report that sales in new markets will start slowly.
“I don’t think there’s a big difference. In new markets, it’s always a little slower. Like when we opened originally in Iceland or Sweden or Auckland. You’re always going to start out lower. In some cases, it’s also a question of some local vendors may not want to sell you because they don’t want to upset the big traditional retailers that have all the market share before we enter. And once we get two or three warehouses open, they talk to you a little more.”
The revenues came at a cost. The company lost 209 million SEK during the first year of operation. This is almost 20 million €. This quite well in line with the losses that Lidl made during its first year of operation in Finland: 18,6 million €
