Inside the Digital Shift of Wholesale Clubs

The warehouse treasure hunt didn’t disappear—it went digital. We unpack how Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s are extending the classic club model with omnichannel tools that make membership more valuable, suppliers more effective, and shopping far more flexible than a weekend stock-up run. From the rise of organics and stronger private labels to curbside, scan-and-go, and price parity, we show where convenience meets trust and why it’s winning.

We dig into the numbers and the moves shaping this shift: organics climbing from a niche to a meaningful share of the mix, Sam’s Club pushing 40+% member adoption on Scan & Go and leaning into price parity, BJ’s testing curbside and same-day to widen access, and Costco threading the needle with Instacart while growing .com sales faster than physical clubs. On the media side, personalization gets real as Costco partners with GrowthLoop to help brands reach millions of households using privacy-safe, first-party club data tied to fulfillment paths—pickup, local delivery, or ship-to-home—so relevant products surface when intent is highest.

If you’re a supplier, the playbook is evolving: design packs that work on pallets and in parcels, invest in retail media that targets member signals, and keep item pages, inventory, and replenishment tight to capture demand spikes without stockouts. If you’re a member, the value promise is clearer than ever—searchable discovery, reliable pricing, and flexible fulfillment that keeps the thrill of the hunt intact while saving time. Subscribe for more retail strategy breakdowns, share this with a fellow operator or brand partner, and leave a review with the biggest surprise you heard today.

Chapters

• 0:08 Setting the Stage: Wholesale Clubs
• 0:59 Organics as a Growth Engine
• 2:16 Omnichannel in Action: Search to Curbside
• 2:16 Digital Integration and Price Parity
• 3:31 Retail Media and Personalization
• 4:12 Scale, E‑commerce Mix, and Expansion
• 5:22 The New Supplier Playbook

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Well, hello everyone, and welcome to Scott's Thoughts. I'm Scott Benedict. You know, today I want to talk a little bit about the U.S. wholesale club industry. So Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's wholesale, and how these retailer formats are embracing Omnichannel when, in fact, their business has been built on the concept of big packs, large or sharp prices, and treasure hunt, or how always having new and exciting deals. Now, the story about how digital integration, retail media, and the blending of online and offline experiences in these channels, where I actually spent the majority of my retail career, is becoming really compelling and exciting in a number of different ways. First of all, is the role that organics play in the strategy of all three major wholesale club operators. One of the ways to see this is in the shift of their organic assortments. Back in 2014, about 4% of the wholesale club channel's food mix was in organics. Today it's closer to 7% overall, and Costco is actually leading the pack there, with about 13% of their assortment represented in organics. Now, beyond the healthier uh options, organics tend to drive higher basket rings, create a bit of buy it now urgency, and even be through the private brands that each of the club operators uh uh focus on. Kirkland Signature, our members mark are two great examples. Here's the the kind of the omnichannel uh link is that these products in this category of goods are not just being presented on pallets in clubs, they're also searchable online, they're featured in digital ads, and they're available for curbside delivery or ship to home. So omnichannel is starting to play a role in that part of their business. Now, digital integration is also really coming to the fore uh in the wholesale club industry. And here I'm proud to say Sam's Club is is kind of leaning in the hardest, having worked there for a number of years. 40% of Sam's Club members, they said in a recent report, use their scan and go uh capability from their app. And they're committed also to price parity in club and online. And that's kind of rare in retail overall, not just in the wholesale club channel. They've also redesigned the space in some of their newer club locations to provide more space for e-commerce fulfillment, whether that's uh pickup orders or uh local delivery as well. BGA's uh wholesale is experimenting with more curbside and same-day delivery, while Costco is expanding their partnership with Instacart and is operating closer to having price parity between uh what happens in clubs and what happens online. And all three are proving that digital convenience can enhance, not replace, their physical club location and that shopping experience. It probably won't shock you that retail media and personalization are also emerging elements of the wholesale club model. Costco has just partnered with a company called Growth Loop to expand personalized digital advertising so that the products that their members offer are are offered are more focused on what they've demonstrated their interest to be. That means that Costco's suppliers can reach millions of households based on club data that ties to direct fulfillment, whether that product is available in a club or through other online fulfillment options. So that's kind of been a neat thing to see. Also, scale and expansion of the of the format has also been an interesting topic to see the clubs as a channel are really growing. In their most uh recent earnings report, Costco reported nearly$270 billion in sales this last fiscal year, with about 19 billion of that coming from Costco.com, or roughly about 7% of their mix, but growing at a much faster rate than their physical location sales are. They'll open up 35 new club locations uh this next year in 2026, bringing them close to a thousand locations worldwide. Sam's Club has said publicly that they have 30 new clubs in their development pipeline, and they're targeting 40% of their sales to come from e-commerce over time. BJ's, while smaller, is sharpening the edge on fresh categories and leaning into private labels as well as working to promote their brands and their products both online and through digital channels. So the bottom line to all of this is that wholesale clubs are proving that OmniChannel is not about abandoning their physical warehouse locations. It's really about extending it. They're using digital tools to amplify the value of their memberships. They're deepening their supplier partnerships and offering suppliers more ways to drive sales with them. And they're starting to blur the lines a little bit between their physical locations and the apps in what feels like a very positive way. For suppliers who sell into the wholesale club channel, it means the playbook has changed a little bit. If your club strategy doesn't account for digital personalization, for offering more fulfillment options, and that of retail media in the club channel isn't part of your strategy, you may be falling a little bit behind. So that's what I've been thinking about recently. I'm Scott Benedict.