Market Currents

The billion dollar question of whether of not Wal-Mart's (WMT +0.5%) Sam's Club can ever...

Monday, November 5, 2012, 3:47 PM ET
The billion dollar question of whether of not Wal-Mart's (WMT +0.5%) Sam's Club can ever overtake Costco (COST +1.7%) might come down to if enough incentives exist to draw consumers away from the clicking Costco model. New brands, rebates, and the lure of Apple products are a nice start - but the ace-in-the-hole could be Sam's grocery advantage, fresher and fuller products, at the 616 stores it operates. (Annual sales breakdown: $97B in sales for Costco vs. $53.8B for Sam's)

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This news story has 8 comments:

chopchop0 Comments (1661)

Surprised that the store count is similar between these two. I always assumed Costco was in bigger metro areas with a smaller number of stores and higher-revenue per store.

5 Nov 2012, 03:54 PM Reply Like

SteveTheHawk Comments (716)

I live in central lower Michigan. Costco has no presence anywhere near me (the closest store is 60 miles away). OTOH, I have two Sam's stores within a 15 minute drive. I always just made the the same assumption as you.

5 Nov 2012, 04:44 PM Reply Like

asully Comments (5)

The customer is King and the customer is a servant at Sammy's

Just try returning something and you will know what I mean. Poorly paid employees giving poor service.

5 Nov 2012, 05:13 PM Reply Like

chopchop0 Comments (1661)

I actually had memberships at both clubs until recently. Ever since SAMS introduced self-checkout, I've found my trips there to be quicker and more efficient than what I've seen at Costco. I dropped costco recently and now am just sticking with Sams. There is a fair amount of overlap in the basics.

It will be perfect once Sams introduces some sort of rebate program like Costco has

5 Nov 2012, 08:23 PM Reply Like

vmetla Comments (27)

I live in OR, I have never seen any Sam's Club in here. May be they should open a few stores. Btw, Costco has great products at great price and very good customer service.

5 Nov 2012, 06:29 PM Reply Like