Strong product sales do not mean powerful stocks for Costco

Among publicly owned retail stores, Costco is in a specialized spot. Though stock prices are falling, quarterly product sales results are strong — and Costco is making some modifications to its promotions.

Quarterly outcomes come from Costco

Wall Street publicly trades Costco. That means the public quarterly states were just released. The membership club reported an 11 percent increase in sales for the final quarter of 2010, resulting in product sales of $20.9 billion. Membership fees accounted for another $426 million in income. The good quarterly earnings didn't help the business much though. There was a 3 percent drop in Costco shares. There can be less profitability of gas and other sales in the company because of bad weather. This is what traders used to explain this drop.

Staying away from sale of fish regarded as 'at risk'

Changes to what Costco could be offering were declared in the quarterly outcomes report. Costco plans to stop selling "at risk" fish. The Marine Stewardship council decides which fish get the "at risk" label. Atlantic Cod, Atlantic Halibut, Chilean Sea Bass, Greenland Halibut, Grouper, Monkfish, Orange Roughy, Redfish, Shark, Skates, Rays, Swordfish and Bluefin Tuna are all on the list of wild fish that will not any longer be offered. There will be farmed seafood accessible still. This will be sold by Costco.

Selling wedding dresses

In addition to taking over-fished seafood off the shelves at Costco, one other large change can be made in some stores. Pop-up wedding boutiques could be tested in a few Costco stores in CA. These dresses can be sold temporarily in the Costco stores and can be much like David's Bridal's prices. About $400 to $1200 a dress could be paid. CA bridal boutiques doing well in CA will mean they’ll start to show up everywhere else. It will probably only take a few months to get them situated. Wedding gowns won't be there permanently. There is a good chance the boutiques will only stay open during wedding buying seasons. This means Feb. through Might they will likely be open.

Citations

Dallas News

eatsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/03/no-more-overfished-seafood-for.html

Wallet Pop

walletpop.com/2011/03/02/something-bargain-bridal-gown-now-offered-at-costco/

Seattle Times

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014375386_costco03.html