COSTCO

You could call it a retail all-star team.

With just weeks to go before its annual Industry Issues Summit conference — one of the most highly-anticipated, must-attend events on the drug store industry calendar — Drug Store News has announced another top-tier roster of some of the most talented and creative retail executives in the business for the annual thought-leadership/networking event.

SEATTLE -- The University of Washington is teaming up with Costco, UPS, Nordstrom and other stakeholders on a new project that aims to improve the way consumers receive their online purchases.

The SCTL Center Urban Freight Lab says it will be working to improve the management of both public and private operations of urban goods delivery systems. Urban Freight Lab members plan to engage in strategic applied research projects at the SCTL Center, and help identify priority problems for future research.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Costco’s same-store sales for September rose 1%, compared to a 2% increase in August. 

The club retailer also reported net sales of $11.06 billion for the five weeks ended Oct. 2, an increase of 3% from $10.75 billion during the similar period last year.

Comparable sales for this period excluding the impacts from gasoline price deflation and foreign exchange were: U.S.  0 %, Canada  5 %, Other International  0 % and Total Company  1 %.

New research from Cowen & Co. indicates that more U.S. households are joining Amazon's Prime program and canceling their Costco and Sam's Club memberships.

According to data published by Cowen & Co. on Monday, the percentage of U.S. households that pay for Prime membership only has more than doubled over the past four years, from 7.1% in 2013 to 16.2% in 2016. In the same time span, housholds that use either Costco (from 14.9% to 9.8%) and Sam's Club only (from 16.9% to 9.7%) dropped noticeably. 

Instacart, the grocery-ordering app, is getting creative about picking, packing and delivering food on-demand. According to TechCrunch, the company’s people and technology show that the San Francisco startup has changed grocery stores for good. (TechCrunch)

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Costco reported a 2% increase in same store sales for August and net sales of $8.9 billion.

The comp increase excludes the impact of foreign currency fluctuations and deflation in gasoline prices. The company recorded comps growth of 2% and 4% across its U.S. and Canadian locations, respectively, while it had flat comps at other international outlets.

For the 16-week fourth quarter, the company reported net sales of $35.7 billion, an increase of 2% from $35 billion in the fourth quarter last year, which ended Aug. 30, 2015.

ISSAQUAH, Wash. -- Costco's comparable-store sales for the month of July declined 2%, with a 3% decrease in U.S. a 3% rise in Canada and other decreases internationally.

More vitamins, minerals and supplements were sold online so far in 2016 than have been sold through a Walmart store, TABS Analytics reported earlier this year. According to the TABS Analytics analysis, $2 billion in VMS products were sold online vs. $1.7 billion at Walmart, $1.3 billion at Costco and $1.2 billion at CVS Pharmacy.