Every day, thousands of shoppers push their ultra-wide shopping carts through Costco's warehouse doors, collectively spending more than $237.7 billion last fiscal year.
The wholesale club boasts 129.5 million membership cardholders representing households and small and midsize businesses, but which shoppers are the "typical" Costco shoppers?
Here's what the data suggests.
Nearly half of US consumers shopped at Costco at least once last year, with 87% of those visiting two or more times, according to data from consumer analytics firm Numerator.
Costco is the third-largest retailer in the US, and its repeat visits are roughly on par with most other big box retailers, but well behind Walmart's 96% repeat rate.
Like most companies in Numerator's panel, Costco's typical shopper is a 69-year-old white woman earning $60,000, which Numerator says is due to them more often being the primary shoppers in their families.
But compared to its peers, the wholesale club is more popular with higher-income millennial and Gen X households. In particular, Asian-American shoppers are even bigger fans of the brand, and are nearly twice as likely as the average US consumer to shop at Costco, according to Numerator's data.
The retailer also consistently leads the pack when it comes to customer satisfaction, though Walmart and Target are gaining ground.
The typical customer visits Costco every two weeks or so — about 30 trips per year — and spends about $100 per trip for a total annual expense of $3,018.
In addition, about one-eighth of her total retail spending is at warehouse clubs, a bit shy of twice the budget that most US households spend in the category.
As it happens, that's exactly how much she needs to spend to earn the $60 in Executive Member reward credits that would offset the cost of upgrading from the basic Gold Star membership.
Compared with other shoppers, Costco members are more likely to be homeowners who love organic foods and actively manage their health.
Costco employs 316,000 people and has more than 875 warehouses around the world, including 751 across North America.
Correction: February 28, 2023 — An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Asian-American shoppers were nearly twice as likely to shop at Costco than other retailers. The demographic is nearly twice as likely to shop at Costco than the typical US consumer.
