Marketing Mix at Costco
1.) Product - Costco offers their customers low prices on selected private and a limited selection of nationally branded products in a wide range of merchandise categories. Costco’s Kirkland Signature private label is known for its quality and value. Costco currently carries more than 330 private label items which make up more than 15% of their sales. Their major products are appliances, books, DVD movies, VHS movies, music, computer and peripherals, electronics and camera, furniture, hardware and outdoor living, health and wellness, jewelry and apparel, and wine and food. Their major services are auto and home insurance, auto financing and refinancing, real estate agent service, mortgage services, life insurance, travel,
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They have store locations, with warehouses in the United States in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and in Mexico. Being located on prime real estate sites is not a top priority of Costco. The belief is that their low prices will attract customers rather than the location or elaborate facilities. Costco has had success using an infill strategy when selecting an area to build a warehouse. An infill strategy is the use of land within a built-up area for further construction. Costco is tentative when entering new markets because they rely on word-of-mouth advertising, and they are fearful of the lack of familiarity with the warehouse. Obviously, it would hurt their business if they are not able to reach their target …show more content…
Sales Promotion: Costco limits its marketing and promotional activities to new warehouse openings. They do use direct marketing to existing customers to promote merchandise. The Executive Membership program offers additional benefits to customers. They receive an annual 2% Reward on most Costco purchases, and extra benefits on member services. Costco and American Express have come together to offer even more benefits to small business owners that have a membership with Costco. They are providing businesses the ability to purchase a TrueEarnings(SM) Business Card. The card offers businesses 5% annual rebate for gasoline purchases, 3% cash back for eating out, even takeout or delivery, 2% cash back for traveling on airlines, for hotel stays, car rentals and cruises, including booking through a travel agency; and 1% cash back virtually everywhere else, inside or outside of Costco warehouses. Costco does not accept Mastercard or Visa Credit cards just to be loyal to one