What it is
Costco Wholesale Corporation, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the year ended 31 August 2025.
The annual report for the fiscal year ended 31 August 2025. Net sales were 269,912 million dollars and total revenue 275,235 million; operating income 10,383 million and net income 8,099 million. Membership fees brought in 5,323 million dollars, up 10%, which is 51% of operating income. By category, Foods and Sundries were 109,564 million (40.6%), Fresh Foods 37,988 million (14.1%), Non-Foods 71,190 million (26.4%) and Warehouse Ancillary and Other 51,170 million (19.0%); food combined is 147,552 million, or 54.7%.
The category dollars reconcile exactly to net sales. The renewal rate, 92.3% in the US and Canada and 89.8% worldwide, is a trailing calculation that excludes memberships expiring in the six months before the reporting date. The category mix is worldwide; Costco publishes no US-only split.
What the commerce leader should take from it
- Half of the operating income of the largest warehouse club comes from the membership fee, not from the margin on goods. The shop is priced to renew the membership.
- Food is more than half of what the club sells. It is a grocer with a different economic model, and it is assessed as one of the 6 warehouse clubs in this release.
- A 92.3% renewal rate is the number every loyalty program in chapter 2 is measured against, whether or not anyone says so.
Where to start
Use with chapter 2. The membership model shows what a known household is worth when the relationship is priced directly; the loyalty programs in findings 2.1 and 4.2 are trying to earn the same relationship without a fee.
Keep in mind
Worldwide figures with no US-only category split, and a renewal rate defined on the company’s own basis.
Where the report uses it
Read during the report design; not cited in a finding or a perspective yet.