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China’s first Costco launches in Shanghai
By:Huang Ziling, Zheng Qian  |  From:english.eastday.com  |  2019-08-22 13:15

The first Costco store in China, the world’s famed membership-based warehouse retailer, will be opened on August 27 in the Minhang district of Shanghai.

The 14,000-square-metre warehouse is decorated concisely. Products here will mostly be sold in bulk to maximize their cost performance. “We don’t play music or have elevator guidance in the store, but we have a special team dispatched to the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea and other countries to purchase products at the cheapest price,” said Zhang Sihan, the vice president for Costco Asia. In his opinion, the cheapest products is Costco’s biggest appeal.

Membership cards are needed to buy goods in Costco. However if customers register before August 26, the annual membership fee is only 199 down from the usual 299 yuan.

Members can enjoy benefits like refunds for electronic goods within 90 days and membership fee return for unsatisfactory food products. If you are not satisfied with the Costco shopping experience, you can apply for a full refund of the membership card before its expiration. “As long as our things are good enough, the customers won’t have to waste time to return goods or refunds. The renewal rate of our membership cards in the global market can reach 90%, and it’s mainly because of our good reputation.”

The store has started membership recruitment both online and offline since July. At present, it has tens of thousands members, with the majority of frequent buyers living within 30 to 45 minutes driving distance. The store is aiming to have 100,000 members to make its operation sustainable.

Costco will continue to explore an online business model after the physical store is gradually on the right track, and in the future, it is expected to open other branches in Shanghai according to consumers’ demands and feedback.

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