Marketing Assignment 1: SWOT analysis
Introduction:
Costco Wholesale is a membership warehouse club. I am interested in analyzing Costco
because my family has been become a membership of Costco for five years, and thought it
would be interesting to do an analysis on a company that I always go shopping there.
Strengths
• A strength of Costco is its customer loyalty. I base this assessment on Mintel article
which states that Costco’s membership renewal rate is nearly 90% in the U.S.
• A strength of Costco is its pricing authority. I base this assessment on Passport GMID
article which states that Costco is famous for focusing on providing the lowest possible
prices.
• A strength of Costco is that it has a strong brand of Kirkland Signature, which consumers
view as a label of quality. I base this assessment on Passport GMID article.
Weakness
• A weakness of Costco is that it has a limited product choice compared to the other
competitors like Walmart which have more extensive products. I base this assessment on
Hoover’s.
Opportunities
• An opportunity in the Costco’s external environment is the popularity of the good-quality
products in Asian countries. I base this assessment on Mintel article.
• An opportunity in the Costco’s external environment is the expansion of delivery
services. I based this assessment on Passport GMID article which states that demographic
trends in the US point towards a larger percentage of people moving to more
concentrated downtown areas, which works against Costco.
• An opportunity in the Costco’s external environment is the growing shopping demand of
people from north and south coasts in the US. I based this assessment on Hoover’s
company description of Costco which states that the majority Costco outlets are in high-
density locations on the east and west coasts.
Threats
countries by entering more Asian countries like China, which would be a huge growth
opportunity.