Stephanie Lahad, Bord Bia Paris Office 

At a recent conference in Paris, the Chairman of Costco France announced that the first Costco store would open in Villebon sur Yvette (Paris area) in November 2015 and that a second store would soon follow. Costco plan to have 15 stores operating in France in the next decade, including between four and six in the Paris area. 

Like other Costco stores worldwide, the French stores will be 13,550sq metres and will feature 4,000 SKUs, 50% of which are food items and about 12% are "Treasure hunt" promotional products. This is Costco’s principal advertisement strategy, as they invest very little in above- and below-the-line promotions. 

Costco’s private label range, Kirkland Signature, is also one of the reasons clients shop in Costco, due to its value for money proposition. A selection of Costco’s own brand products will also be introduced in their French store. They generally represent 22% of their assortment and are positioned 10% below the price of the brand leader.  

After the UK (26 stores) and Spain (1 store), France is the third European market targeted by Costco, due to its demographics. Costo France’s target consumer is aged between 40 and 55 years old with an average household income of €40k. The outlets are also open to trade customers, including corner shops, restaurants, small-to-medium sized offices and public and parapublic structures (for non-food). 

The purchasing team insisted on the long-term relationships that Costco build with their suppliers and asserted that they were open to meeting new suppliers for their French operations. They mentioned the fact that although the business and logistics model of Costco is applied, the product assortment would be adapted to French consumers. Costco have stated their intention to drive a profit margin of 14% in France.  

To access the full conference report, please e-mail stephanie.lahad@bordbia.ie