All anyone can talk about right now is the fallout from the Trump administration's tariffs. Global markets are tumbling, and everyday people's hearts are dropping when they look at their 401Ks and IRAs. Americans are also feeling the pinch at the grocery store, with higher-than-normal food prices showing no sign of easing up. However, in a sea of doom and gloom, one corporate CEO has a sliver of good news. In a recent earnings call, Costco's chief executive assured shoppers that the store—where an estimated one-third of Americans shop—is "well equipped to lower prices" amid increasing tariffs.
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Costco's "goal" is to "minimize" tariff-related price increases.
In a March 6 earnings call, Costco CEO Ron Vachris responded to questions about how the store will handle the current economic climate, admitting that "it is difficult to predict the impact of tariffs."
"Our team remains agile and our goal will be to minimize the impact of related cost increases to our members," he said, adding that the company plans to "rise to this challenge by leveraging our global buying power, strong supplier relationships and innovation."
"But we are prepared, our people are very well equipped to lower prices and defer any cost increase that come our way. So, we're going to do what we can should that happen," Vachris continued.
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Costco may be well-positioned to offset foreign tariffs.
Of course, a lot has changed since March 6, but Costco may be uniquely positioned to weather the current storm of tariffs.
As Vachris noted, only one-third of Costco's U.S. sales are imported from other countries, and less than half of those come from China, Mexico, and Canada, where tariffs have been levied especially hard.
But even with those items, Costco feels confident it can offset some of the effects of new tariffs.
"With our flexibility...there's not many items that we can't find something to replace or something else to bring in," Vachris stated.
And recent reports state that Costco is already trying to lower prices with its Chinese suppliers. To this point, Investopedia shares that UBS analysts predict that large retailers selling household essentials and groceries have the scale that best positions them to negotiate with vendors.
"These retailers will likely be able to widen their price gaps with their competitors within categories hit by tariffs," the analysts said. "Ultimately, the longer that the tariffs persist, the more likely it is to drive further consolidation in retail. This will also benefit those with scale and strong positioning."
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Shoppers and investors seem confident that Costco will stick to its word.
Vachris and other Costco executives haven't spoken publicly since last month's earnings call, but it seems those remarks were enough to bolster shoppers' confidence in the retailer.
An April 4 article by Ron Lieber, The New York Times "Your Money" columnist, examined whether tariff panic buying has set in at Costco as it did during the great toilet paper scourge of 2020.
"At a Costco in Brooklyn, it was business as usual. I watched a few hundred carts exiting, none of which contained unusual amounts of toilet paper or anything else," he shared.
Lieber also reasoned, albeit somewhat in jest, that as long as Costco doesn't raise the price of its $1.50 hot dog-soda combo (the price has been in effect since the 1980s), shoppers probably don't have to worry.
Jokes aside, investors also appear positive about Costco's popularity.
Last week, following Trump's latest round of tariffs, Target and Amazon saw their stock prices drop roughly 10 percent, according to CNBC Make It. Costco, on the other hand, only had a 4 percent drop.
"They predominantly sell consumer staples, and those are still going to be purchased even in a weaker consumer spending environment," Wedbush analyst Seth Basham told CNBC. "Consumers value high quality items at very good prices. [Costco doesn’t] take extra markup, so consumers can be pretty confident they’re getting the best deal on the goods that Costco is selling."
