After visiting Costco in China, Japan, South Korea and the United States, consumers say so …

　　Shanghai Costco supermarket. Photo courtesy of consumers

　　Recently, it was reported that Costco’s first store in Shanghai experienced a phenomenon of centralized queuing to return membership cards after its customers were full. What kind of experience is shopping in Costco? Yangzi Evening News reporters interviewed consumers who had had shopping experience in Costco supermarkets in Shanghai, Japan, South Korea and the United States respectively, and invited economists to talk about the phenomenon of card withdrawal in Costco Shanghai stores.

　　Experienced by: Mr. Fu

　　Shopping: Costco, China.

　　Maotai was sold out long ago, and the price of Wuliangye increased.

　　Mr. Fu, a Nanjing consumer, happened to be on a business trip in Shanghai recently. On the evening of September 5th, he went to Costco Supermarket with friends who had membership cards. "Moutai has long been sold out; Wuliangye has also increased its price, more than 1,000 yuan a bottle; Hermes bag can’t be seen either. However, roast chicken is still hot. " Mr. Fu introduced that his most intuitive feeling is that there are many young people in the whole Costco supermarket, mainly consumers aged around 20-40.

　　"Like a large warehouse, shelves like IKEA." Mr. Fu introduced that his friend read the recommendation online, knew what was cheaper, and bought a bottle of red wine and a bag of potato chips. He feels that if he wants to buy something cheap, he’d better do his homework in advance. Some foreign-made things are really relatively cheap. He took photos of several commodity prices, and his friends said they were cheap. For example, 25ml or 30ml of Chloe and BOSS perfume costs 399 yuan a bottle. Levi’s jeans cost 429.9 yuan. According to friends, they usually cost around 600 yuan.

　　"There are still many people, but they are orderly." According to Mr. Fu, when checking the card at the entrance, it was quite strict, and it was an electronic card. Most people come to the supermarket as a family.

　　Mr. Fu said that because he went at night, he didn’t see the queue to return the card. The normal checkout channel still has to queue up around 9 pm.

　　Experienced by: Mr. Lin

　　Shopping: Costco, Japan

　　Go shopping and have a PARTY when you get home.

　　Mr. Lin, a consumer in Nanjing, lived in Japan before 2018. He told the Yangzi Evening News reporter that he had a membership card in Costco supermarket at that time, and the price was 4,400 yen, which was less than the RMB in 300 yuan (1,000 yen was about the RMB in 60 yuan). Japanese supermarkets are generally few and fine, while Costco supermarkets are full of American style and large quantity, which is very cheap on average.

　　"Buy a trip, and you can have a PARTY when you go home." Mr. Lin introduced that Costco supermarkets are generally located in the suburbs. He lives in the center of Tokyo, 16 kilometers to the south, 40 kilometers to the east and about 50 kilometers to the west from several Costco supermarkets. Generally, family shopping is once every 1-2 weeks. Sushi is in a big box, with 48 pieces in a box, and 12 pieces in Japanese supermarkets. Roasted chicken is also popular in Japan, with a price of 699 yen. You should take the number before Christmas to buy roast chicken. Salmon and pork are also very cheap. Take pork ribs as an example, a large box is only 1800 yen. The most popular thing for children is a large jar of cashew kernel, which sells for 2,400 yen.

　　Clothes are also sold very cheaply, such as jeans like Levi’s, which cost about 4,000 yen and are of good quality. He also bought ski clothes and glasses for his children, and bought his own black cotton-padded clothes for 4,000 yen/piece. Before returning to China, he didn’t see any luxury goods sold in Costco supermarket in Japan.

　　Experienced by: Ms. Yan

　　Shopping: Costco, Korea

　　I basically didn’t see the phenomenon of card withdrawal.

　　Ms. Yan, a Nanjing native who once lived in Daejeon, South Korea, told the Yangzi Evening News reporter that she had set up a membership card at the local Costco supermarket through a friend’s introduction. She spent 45,000 won on a membership card, which was converted into RMB less than 300 yuan (at that time, 1,000 won was equivalent to 6 yuan RMB).

　　Ms. Yan introduced that she felt that the items sold in this supermarket were very rich. She has been there several times and bought bread, beef, eggs, milk, vegetables and other foods. "The food is fresh and full of weight." Ms. Yan recalled that there are also some luxury goods on sale in the supermarket.

　　Ms. Yan said that she basically didn’t see the phenomenon of card withdrawal, probably because the positioning of this supermarket is more in line with the needs of the middle class.

　　Experienced by: Ms. Yang

　　Shopping: Costco, USA

　　In 2016, I haven’t seen luxury goods yet.

　　Ms. Yang, a citizen of Nanjing, spent more than 20 days in San Francisco, USA in 2016. At that time, she went shopping in Costco supermarket with friends with membership cards. When she traveled to the United States again in 2017, she lived in a homestay all the way. She usually went to an ordinary supermarket to buy daily necessities. Because of these two comparisons, she was deeply impressed by the cheap prices of goods in Costco supermarket.

　　"Praise bread, $4.99, 3 dozen 36. A box of Butterfly Crisps is $4.99, 4 dozen 48 pieces. We drove in the west of the United States and didn’t eat all the way. Hershey’s chocolate and coffee are all sold by the package, and each package is more than one kilogram. Starbucks coffee beans are 2.5 pounds and more than ten dollars. " Ms. Yang introduced that this supermarket is suitable for family use because everything it sells is large. She found that if you buy the same product with similar total price in other supermarkets, the amount may be only half that of Costco supermarket.

　　She remembers that Costco supermarkets in the United States are generally relatively large, about the size of IKEA or slightly smaller, mainly selling daily necessities such as food, clothing and use, as well as electrical appliances. But I don’t remember selling luxury goods at that time. (Yangzi Evening News/Yangyan reporter Merry ma Xu Wei Fu Yijie Intern Tao Meizhen)