How Costco Won in Japan (2025)
readtrung.com
readtrung.com
Big families are more common in the US. While average fertility isn't that much higher in the US compared to europe, the US has a lot of subcultures where it's much higher. Maybe that's part of Costco's success. These tubs aren't oversized if you have four kids.
Living in Okinawa I also noticed the proliferation of reseller stores. They charge a reasonable margin and let you buy 4 or 8 muffins instead of 50. It makes perfect sense in Japan.
Incidentally I was disappointed that 90% of Costco Japan's goods are Japanese origin. You'd expect them to be full of American stuff but the majority is not. Even the imports are often the same items you can find in other supermarket import sections.
Huh, I get where you're coming from, but one of the things I really like about Costco Canada is how much stuff they source from Canada.
And it's fun to pop into Costco in other countries and see what they sell.
Amazon saves SO much time. Costco is SO slow, a preposterously slow experience. Minutes of ordering and unpacking Amazon Fresh takes hours for Costco. And the food is fresher.
It is dark patterns in retail embodied.
I hate their social media advertising. That is, they pay to tip the scales on algorithmic recommenders, they don't pay influencers or ads.
They really are the thing that Pixar mocks them to be.
Everyone has to stop going there and just buy this shit online.
The stuff they have is nice, but unless I'm going to go buy a bunch of steaks or something, it just barely pays for itself if that. I've let my membership expire and renewed when I had something significant to buy (in which case it's definitely worth it). For my life, it's cheaper to buy smaller packages of the things that will go bad like meat and produce, even at a higher per-unit cost, and it's much closer.
Now, Walmart Plus? THAT has been fantastic. It pays for itself quickly because they will deliver the items to me for the staples they have, and I only have to get one loaf of bread, one small jelly, etc. I don't have to drive out there, walk to the back of the store, pick out one size of paper towels, go pay for it, and drive home again. It's easy to put together a $50 order to get free delivery because it's all my staples in quantities I'll use, not only one or two in family-of-four quantities.
[1] Yes, you need somewhere to stuff 24 rolls of paper towels etc. I ended up building more shelves in the voids at the top of closets and the like. Ladder-access only but it works out.
[2] Stop doing 32-ingredient cooks with baby bok choy and white tomatoes and whatever other exotic instagram reels crap. Buy beef, chicken, fish, then portion and freeze (a vacuum-sealer is not necessary but it helps). Buy a standard 4-5 vegetables and a couple fruits. Potatoes and rice for carbs. Then figure out a list of recipes you can make from those ingredients -- I promise they can be combined damn near indefinitely.
A lot of people don't notice this, and buy everything from Costco for the convenience, when it may be cheaper elsewhere.
For me personally, if I'm buying a large amount of meat, I buy from my local grocery store, as it's significantly cheaper.
You can maybe find some meats cheaper elsewhere if you're shopping sales or buying a whole cow from a farmer. But chicken, turkey, or seafood? No way. And also consistently all high quality.
Perhaps this is regionally dependent, but not only is the meat cheaper at Costco for me, but it is also higher quality. You do have to buy much more of it at a time, but that’s not really a huge issue in my view.