Costco.com
means
business
New program
offers savings
for on-the-job
necessities
BuyingSmart
Consumer reporter
Pat Volchok gives
a behind-the-scenes
look at Costco COSTCO HAS BEENa money-saving products and services. resource for small businesses from Send your questions to: the very start. The warehouses fea- buyingsmart@ ture top-quality products for busi-
costco.com nesses at great prices, and the Costco business delivery program serves
companies in select urban areas.
But Costco is taking its commitment of providing value to people who buy office supplies to an
entirely new level with the launch of costco.com’s
National Business Supplies Program. The program
offers thousands of popular products that are
needed in the everyday running of a business at typically low Costco prices—and with the Costco guarantee of satisfaction.
“Costco already has a highly successful regional
business delivery program, but it is limited to just
five regions,” says Ginnie Roeglin, Costco’s senior
vice president of e-commerce and publishing. “We
took this proven formula and expanded it to meet
the business needs of the rest of the country.”
I’m always curious how Costco does it, time and
time again: offer savings of 10 or 20 percent or even
more on leading brand products over what you can
Driving home a bargain: Pat Volchok
finds costco.com’s National Business
Supplies Program offers great products delivered to your place.
FRANCE FREEMAN
find elsewhere in the marketplace. The answer,
Ginnie explains, is that the new business program is
based on the successful Costco formula. First, buyers
thoroughly researched the market to find the best
products in terms of quality, assortment and value.
Then, a reliable distribution network with 34 state-of-the-art order-processing centers was established
to minimize operating costs and speed up delivery.
“The goal is to offer the best price with the highest quality of brand-name goods and member service—backed by fast delivery,” notes Ginnie.
For proof, I reviewed a recent national price comparison listing of the top 332 business items sold by
major office e-tailers and costco.com. Costco.com has
the lowest prices on 325 of the items and the same
price on five others.
“Numbers speak volumes,” says Ginnie. “If a
member purchases a market basket of all the business
supply items common to a competitor and Costco in
this listing, the costco.com savings are $6,300.47 over
Office Depot, $5,604.93 over Staples, $3,818.42 over
Office Max and $3,794.93 over Sam’s Club.”
It’s important to note that shipping and delivery
costs are included in the listed price of most