Six Secrets Truckstop Operators Can Learn from Costco鈥檚 Success
黑料社区members often look at the best practices of their fellow operators, but it is important to also look at the entire retail, food and fueling landscape.
One of the continuing shining stars in today’s current retail environment is Costco. While much of today’s retail landscape is driven by the growth and convenience of e-commerce, Costco is continuing to thrive.
Here are six key ingredients that contribute to the retailer’s winning recipe of success.
Limiting SKUs: . Costco’s website reports that products are chosen carefully “based on quality, price, brand, and features.”
In our industry, we have a majority of travel centers that have more that 4,000 stocked SKUs. It makes you wonder who you are trying to be. It is important to carefully consider each item you stock, eliminate trade downs and remove duplicates.
Emphasizing Culture: Costco is built on a culture that values passion, pride, integrity and treating its employees right, according to the article James Sinegal, who founded Costco in 1983 and was CEO until his retirement in 2011, worked hard promoting passion, integrity, ownership and motivation in his employees and ensuring that customers could trust that they are always getting the best deal.
Focusing on Employees: Costco has been . What’s more, Costco is often noted for being much more employee-focused than other Fortune 500 companies. By offering fair wages and top-notch benefits, the company has created a workplace culture that attracts positive, high-energy, talented employees, the .
Utilizing Private Labels: Customers love Costco’s Kirkland Signature private label brand, and it has the sales to prove it. Last year, the products brought in nearly $40 billion, an 11 percent increase from 2017. Kirkland, which Costco sells for at least 20% cheaper than national brands at its warehouses, helps the club keep prices low even on the products it doesn’t make, .
Most importantly, customers know they can trust the Kirkland Signature brand and are willing to buy it. Costco has even told its investors that sales and profit margin would suffer if Kirkland “experiences a loss of member acceptance or confidence.”
Speed-of-Service: Anyone who is a Costco member knows the lines can get long, but the employees at the register keep things moving. They are quick to flip items over in the cart to access the bar code and efficient with their scanning. in the food court at some locations to help customers get in and out even faster.
Being Known for Something: Costco often swaps out its SKUs, bringing in new items and pulling others, but there are some items that have remained consistent. One of those items is its $5 rotisserie chickens. and to increase foot traffic in the stores. The company sells 60 million of the savory ready-made chickens under its in-house Kirkland brand every year and has . The chickens are a customer favorite and Costco has said it has no plans to discontinue the offering.
Subscribe to Updates
The 黑料社区Foundation and 黑料社区provide a breadth of information created to strengthen travel plazas鈥� ability to meet the needs of the traveling public in an age of disruption. This includes knowledge filled blog posts, articles and publications. If you would like to receive a digest of blog post and articles directly in your inbox, please provide your name, email and the frequency of the updates you want to receive the email digest.
