Pandemic Doesn't Change Costco's View Against BOPIS

Costco shuns buy online, pick up in store. “We continue to look at what others do” in BOPIS, said Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti on a quarterly call. “We continue to scratch our heads a little bit.” Some offer BOPIS “because they feel they have to,” he said. “We have people here that study it, and maybe we'll surprise you one day.” NPD estimates more than a third of Q2 online sales were BOPIS. Costco’s “40,000-foot view” of the supply chain amid the pandemic shows most factories in China are “up and running,” said the CFO. “Some production challenges” persist due to component shortages “downstream," especially in high-demand electronics and computers, he said. Costco sells Dell and HP, both recently reporting some shortages (see 2008280054). Costco is "doing very well" procuring additional tech supply, Galanti said Thursday. "We've added some different vendors in some cases." E-commerce sales at the retailer soared 91% in fiscal Q4 ended Aug. 30 from the year-ago period, with TVs, laptops and tablets among “stronger deployments,” said Galanti. “Our e-com sites ran relatively smoothly during the quarter despite the dramatic volume increases,” he said. “We were able to improve our delivery times throughout the quarter as we adjusted to the ramped-up order volumes.” Revenue increased 13% to $52.28 billion.