The wholesale retailer reduced prices on wings, chocolate almonds, golf balls, and king-size sheets by as much as $10
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Costco $COST Wholesale lowered prices on four Kirkland Signature private-label products during its fiscal third quarter, executives disclosed on the company's May 28 earnings call, with reductions ranging from $1 to $10 across food, home goods, and sporting equipment categories.
Among the four products cited by Fox Business, the largest markdown landed on Kirkland Signature King Size Sheets, whose price dropped $10 to $79.99; Kirkland Signature Golf Balls shed $3 to reach $29.99; and two food items — Kirkland Signature Crispy Wings and Kirkland Signature Milk Chocolate Almonds — moved to $14.99 and $18.99, respectively. The company did not advertise the changes in stores or online.
CFO Gary Millerchip said on the earnings call that Costco had "invested in lower prices for our members on several everyday items" during the quarter. CEO Ron Vachris framed the move within the company's broader pricing philosophy. "Our goal is to be the first to lower prices and the last to raise them," Vachris said.
Costco's membership fee model gives the company flexibility to absorb cost pressures without immediately passing them on to shoppers. Membership fee revenue for the quarter reached $1.37 billion, up 10.7% from a year earlier.
Costco has executed similar moves before. In remarks on prior earnings calls, Millerchip pointed to a slate of Kirkland rollbacks carried out in 2024 — spanning macadamia nuts, Spanish olive oil, standard foil, laundry packs, and a baguette two-pack — and highlighted that trimming the price of boneless chicken tenders by 13% drove a 21% jump in pounds sold.
Costco's fiscal third-quarter results were otherwise strong. Net sales for the twelve-week period reached $69.15 billion, up 11.6% from a year earlier, while net income climbed to $2.19 billion, or $4.93 per diluted share, from $1.90 billion, or $4.28 per diluted share, in the same period last year. Comparable-store sales rose 9.8%, or 6.6% excluding the effects of gasoline prices and foreign exchange. Digitally enabled sales increased 21.5% during the quarter.
Questions about the scope and duration of the program remain unanswered: as Newsweek noted, the retailer has offered no indication of whether other Kirkland products are in line for cuts or when the newly reduced prices might change.
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