(Reuters) – Membership-only retail chain Costco Wholesale Corp beat analysts’ estimates for second-quarter revenue on Thursday, as people stuck at home spent more on frozen foods, liquor and electronic products.
Big-box retailers that offer one-stop shops for a range of products from food to apparel to electronics have benefited as people are making a bulk of their purchases under a single roof to limit contact with strangers during the pandemic.
The warehouse retail chain, which brings in only a fraction of sales from its online channels and relies largely on the treasure hunt shopping experience, has been focusing on growing its online sales over the past year. Overall online sales jumped 75.8% in the second quarter from a year earlier.
Revenue from memberships, which range between $60 and $120 per year and account for most of Costco’s gross margin, rose to $881 million from $816 million.
Total revenue rose to $44.77 billion in the quarter ended Feb. 14 from $39.07 billion a year earlier, compared with a Refinitiv IBES estimate of $43.78 billion.
(Reporting by Mehr Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
