Membership sales are still growing
Jarrett Homan/Shutterstock
Buying in bulk appealed to the masses as it limited the number of times people went to the grocery store. KSLTV reports that millions of Americans joined warehouse clubs for the first time during the pandemic and held onto those memberships a year later. IRI, a market research firm, reports that club stores gained .5% of the grocery market share in 2020 and 2021, the fastest sales growth in 2021 of any retail channel, equaling an additional $16 billion in sales.
Sam’s Club, the second biggest warehouse club after Costco and a Walmart subsidiary, has grown faster than Walmart in 2021. In a second-quarter Q23 Earning’s Report, Walmart reported that Sam’s Club saw an increase in U.S. comp sales of 9.5%, compared to Walmart’s comp sales of 6.5% and an increase of 17.2% on a two-year stack. Although the company doesn’t release membership numbers, they report an increase of 8.9% in membership income which is an all-time high. As the workforce model led to people working from home, this contributed to high grocery sales and an increase in home office supplies. Curb-side pickup and delivery options helped the success, with e-commerce sales growing by 32%. Now that we seem to be moving past the pandemic, whether Americans will continue to pay for another membership is unclear.
Sam’s Club Just Reported Its Highest Member Count Ever
Joni Hanebutt/Shutterstock
By Jennifer Mathews/Aug. 17, 2022 10:15 am EST
Not everyone faced impending doom, however. Companies that fared well during the pandemic were ones the government deemed ’essential.’ Big box warehouse clubs that require an annual membership fee to join, like Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s, were able to stay open, offering Americans groceries and household ’essentials,’ like toilet paper.
Then COVID hit. The limited supply and increasing demand for household essentials, fueled by the toilet paper walls erected in homes, helped boost sales over the past 24 months. As Americans got used to the ’new normal,’ they continued to shop in warehouse clubs, buying everything else the store offers in bulk.
Membership sales are still growing
Jarrett Homan/Shutterstock
Buying in bulk appealed to the masses as it limited the number of times people went to the grocery store. KSLTV reports that millions of Americans joined warehouse clubs for the first time during the pandemic and held onto those memberships a year later. IRI, a market research firm, reports that club stores gained .5% of the grocery market share in 2020 and 2021, the fastest sales growth in 2021 of any retail channel, equaling an additional $16 billion in sales.
Sam’s Club, the second biggest warehouse club after Costco and a Walmart subsidiary, has grown faster than Walmart in 2021. In a second-quarter Q23 Earning’s Report, Walmart reported that Sam’s Club saw an increase in U.S. comp sales of 9.5%, compared to Walmart’s comp sales of 6.5% and an increase of 17.2% on a two-year stack. Although the company doesn’t release membership numbers, they report an increase of 8.9% in membership income which is an all-time high. As the workforce model led to people working from home, this contributed to high grocery sales and an increase in home office supplies. Curb-side pickup and delivery options helped the success, with e-commerce sales growing by 32%. Now that we seem to be moving past the pandemic, whether Americans will continue to pay for another membership is unclear.
Sam’s Club, the second biggest warehouse club after Costco and a Walmart subsidiary, has grown faster than Walmart in 2021. In a second-quarter Q23 Earning’s Report, Walmart reported that Sam’s Club saw an increase in U.S. comp sales of 9.5%, compared to Walmart’s comp sales of 6.5% and an increase of 17.2% on a two-year stack. Although the company doesn’t release membership numbers, they report an increase of 8.9% in membership income which is an all-time high. As the workforce model led to people working from home, this contributed to high grocery sales and an increase in home office supplies. Curb-side pickup and delivery options helped the success, with e-commerce sales growing by 32%.
Now that we seem to be moving past the pandemic, whether Americans will continue to pay for another membership is unclear.
