USAToday reports this morning that while consumers continue to frequent warehouse clubs such as Sam’s, Costco and BJ’s, their purchases are limited to the bulk consumables that are regularly used in their households. Not being bought as much anymore are the high-cost, impulse items -- big screen televisions, jewelry, trampolines -- that used to account for a sizeable portion of the clubs’ revenue, not to mention the magic of the shopping experience.
“That cutback in spending per visit to the store has depressed sales totals,” USAToday reports. “Warehouse clubs as a group showed just a 0.4% uptick in sales in October at stores open at least a year compared with 6.7% last year.”
“That cutback in spending per visit to the store has depressed sales totals,” USAToday reports. “Warehouse clubs as a group showed just a 0.4% uptick in sales in October at stores open at least a year compared with 6.7% last year.”
- KC's View:
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What this means, we think, is that the clubs will have to do a better job with their inventories and be more sensitive to consumer demand.
Give you an example. We ran over to Costco last night because the H-P printer we use at home ran out of ink. Costco had a great price on a three-pack of black-and-white printer ink cartridges…but didn’t even carry the color variety, forcing us to make another stop at Staples. This makes no sense to us…
In addition, we think that they may want to start carrying a broader selection of books, CDs and DVDs…products that consumers may be more willing to impulse buy during the coming holiday season.
