Costco Wholesale Corp. delivered another strong month in December, supported by rising store traffic and a sharp acceleration in online sales.
The warehouse club said net sales increased 8.5% to $29.86 billion over the five-week period ended Jan. 4, 2026. Shopper visits rose 2.7% during the month, while the average transaction value climbed 4.2%.
Digitally enabled comparable sales jumped 18.9%, or 18.3% when excluding fuel and foreign exchange effects. The result extends a run of strong online growth, following gains of 16.6% in both October and November.
Across the business, comparable sales increased 7%. U.S. comps rose 6.0%, while Canada posted an 8.4% increase. Comparable sales in other international markets advanced 10.6%.
Related Story
When stripping out the impact of gasoline prices and currency movements, comparable sales rose 6.3% in the U.S. and 6.0% in Canada. Other international markets recorded a 5.6% increase on the same basis.
At the end of the period, Costco operated 923 warehouses globally.
This includes 633 locations in the United States and Puerto Rico, 114 in Canada, 42 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, three in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland and New Zealand.
The retailer also runs e-commerce operations in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia.
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
