Drafted 1 June, updated 7 June 2025
We are talking about the famous ‘box stores’ where you enter with a subscription and membership card. And where only large packages are bought in bulk.
The headline in the Financial Times from which I took my cue was: ‘American consumers, tired of inflation, queue up for cheap toilet paper and Bordeaux wine’:
“… inflation… has left consumer prices in the US 26% higher than in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Consumer surveys show continued concern about inflation as the US imposes tariffs on trading partners.
“In good times we do well, and in bad times we do even better,” said Chris Nicholas, CEO of Sam’s Club US… who reported that like-for-like sales rose 6.7 per cent in the first quarter, excluding fuel, outpacing the growth of his parent company’s US namesake shops …” .
It is a division of the Walmart Group, which had sales of USD 92.6 billion in 2025 (*). “Sam’s‘ is named after its founder, Sam Walton.
Walmart and Sam’s Club’s discount competitors are also doing well: Costco (third photo below), with annual sales of $254.5 billion (*), announced on Thursday a 7.9% increase in sales on a comparable basis in the US, excluding fuel. BJ’s, with sales of $20.5 billion, reported a 3.9% increase in sales on a comparable basis last week, excluding the volatile impact of gasoline prices.
In comparison, according to Visible Alpha, like-for-like sales at the major US supermarket chains, Kroger and Albertsons, are expected to increase by 2 per cent when results are released. By contrast, sales declined at Target and Macy‘s, the department store and department store chains.
The hypermarkets – supercenters – Walmart, in the US, were up 4 .5% (less than Sam’s then).
(*) to give a benchmark, Metro has EUR 31 billion turnover, of which 2 billion in Italy (growth 2024 : 2.1%, source: Repubblica AF 2 June 2025).
The fashion for shopping in discount stores (Box stores, where you buy ‘bulk’, in large packages, in bulk) was not born today as The Wall Street testifies, writing about it in 2024
“These companies – Sam’s, BJ’s and Costco – are expanding at a good pace right now and over time they are making their proposition to consumers very attractive,” said Robert Altun, analyst at RetailStat. The three big chains are expanding retail space in the US by millions of square feet, with Costco aiming to open 15 of them this year. BJ’s plans to open 25 to 30 in the next two years. Sam’s Club, which closed 63 shops in 2018, now plans to open 15 new clubs per year ‘in the near future’.
The shop model based on membership clubs was conceived by a retailer named Sol Price, who launched his Price Club chain in Southern California in the 1970s. In 1993 Price Club merged with Costco.
Walmart founder Sam Walton admitted that he stole Price’s concept when he created Sam’s Club in 1983.
A year later, BJ’s was born, based in Massachusetts.
All three charge a membership fee – basic levels cost $50 a year at Sam’s Club, $60 at BJ’s and $65 at Costco – in exchange for access to the shops. The latter two have increased dues in the past year, but membership numbers continue to rise, with nine out of 10 choosing to renew.
As Todd Sears, CFO, told investors last month, 80-90 per cent of Sam’s Club’s profits came from membership income. In return, customers receive a reduced assortment of several thousand items that they say will be the cheapest around. These can range from 36 rolls of toilet paper to cases of Bordeaux wines, for a slightly more affluent than average clientele.
Clubs put pressure on suppliers such as Procter & Gamble and Nestlé to keep prices low by selling competing brands of their own. Costco ‘s private label Kirkland Signature and Sam’s Club ‘s Member’s Mark are worth tens of billions of dollars each[as in Europe leading manufacturers also produce for discounters].
At Costco, customers are forced to show receipts to employees at the exit of the shop, thus slowing down spending.
Foot traffic data collected by Advan Research show that customers spent about 13 per cent more time in Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s shops in the US in the first quarter than in traditional supermarkets.
All three department stores are encroaching on Amazon’s territory, fulfilling orders online in shops or via home delivery, sometimes through third parties such as Instacart.
And the shops are trying to counter what Nicholas calls ‘friction’. Sam’s Club allows customers to scan and pay with their phones, while computer vision cameras check the contents of shopping carts against digital receipts. The technology has accelerated checkout times by 23 per cent, said Todd Garner, Sam’s Club product manager, during a visit to the shop in Grapevine, Texas.
Conclusion: As in France and Italy, in the US, inflation due to Covid – 19 has left deep traces that have favoured the development of discount formulas, albeit with very different approaches and sales methods. US consumers are also experiencing the political uncertainty sown by the tariffs wanted by Donald Trump.
This situation risks changing their consumption habits even more. Mc Donald’s lacklustre figures seem to suggest that another shift is underway: from fast food to – cheaper – consumption at home. And indeed:‘As consumers try to save some money amid inflation and uncertainty about the economy in general, food that can be prepared at home has proven to be a major beneficiary. Sales in Campbell ‘s meals and beverages segment increased 15% to $1.5 billion during the third quarter…”
Obviously on an economic level, as Chris Nichols , ad of Sam’s Club said at the beginning, ‘difficult times’ are expected.
N.B.: from a marketing perspective Walmart covers all price ranges: to compete directly with Amazon Prime, Walmart introduced Walmart , a subscription service offering free same-day delivery, fuel discounts and exclusive promotions .
Then there is Sam’s Club – which islike Lidl, a quality discount store (‘copyright’ Clara Mentasti) – and its entire network of supercenters that, even with e-commerce, can reach 93% of US consumers.
Below photos: taken at Costco Wholesale in New York.
