Costco

Costco, the largest warehouse club in the US, has this week revealed that year-on-year sales for June fell 4 per cent to US$6.88bn, hit by reduced demand for non-food and discretionary items.

The group reported a 6 per cent fall in same-store sales during the month-long period, a result of lower sales at both its US operations (down 6 per cent) and internationally down 3 per cent), Reuters reported.

Despite lower sales, traffic counts improved by 4.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis, although the average consumer transaction was down 9.5 per cent on 2008.

'Comparable sales results for June in merchandising are very similar for all of our categories compared to our most recently-reported month, with stronger sales results in foods, sundries, fresh foods and slightly softer sales in the non-food, more discretionary categories,' the group said in a recorded telephone message.