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Starting today, Costco is rolling out a new schedule that introduces exclusive hours for its Executive members. The schedule was first announced in an email sent to members earlier this month, in which the big-box warehouse club detailed its plans to adjust its hours of operations to add some attractive new perks for its highest-paying members. The plan comes on the heels of a strong financial quarter for Costco: Per its third quarter 2025 earnings report, the company notched 8% year-over-year sales gains, from $57.39 billion last year to $61.96 billion this year. Heres what to know about the updated schedule: How are hours and membership perks changing? Previously, Costcos hours at most locations were 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Today, the company is introducing an earlier start each day thats only available to its Executive tier. Throughout the week, Costco will now open at 9 a.m. for Executive members, giving those card-holders an additional hour of shopping Sunday through Friday, as well as 30 added minutes on Saturday. In addition, Costco will offer Executive members a monthly $10 credit for orders of $150 placed through the company’s “Same-Day” service or Instacart. Outside of these Executive tier offerings, Costco also plans to expand its Saturday hours to a 7 p.m. closing time for all members starting on July 5. Why is Costco making these changes? To shop at Costco at all, customers need to purchase one of two membership plans: either the standard Gold Star Membership, which costs $65 per year, or the Executive Membership, which costs $130 per year. In the past, Costco has primarily attracted its most loyal shoppers to the pricier Executive Membership with an annual 2% reward on qualified purchases, which can rack up a maximum of $1,250 in cash back per year. Now, though, the company is trying to sweeten the deal with an exclusive shopping experiencea strategy thats already in place at Sams Club, the retailers main rival. Costcos adoption of the concept makes sense, given how central Executive members have become to its overall financial health. On a May 29 earnings call, Gary Millerchip, Costcos executive vice president and CFO, shared that the company now has 37.6 million Executive members, up 9% from the same quarter in 2024. He also noted that at the end of third quarter 2025, Executive members accounted for 47.3% of paid members but a whopping 73.1% of worldwide sales. Early access to the clubs inventory (and its popular food court) is one way for Costco to keep its biggest spenders coming back for more.
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E-Commerce
Many of the world’s nations are gathering starting Monday in Spain for a high-level conference to tackle the growing gap between rich and poor nations and try to drum up trillions of dollars needed to close it. The United States, previously a major contributor, pulled its participation, so finding funding will be tough.The four-day Financing for Development meeting in the southern city of Seville is taking place as many countries face escalating debt burdens, declining investments, decreasing international aid and increasing trade barriers.“Financing is the engine of development. And right now, this engine is sputtering,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his opening comments at the conference.“We are here in Sevilla to change course, to repair and rev up the engine of development to accelerate investment at the scale and speed required.”The U.N. and Spain, the conference co-hosts, believe the meeting is an opportunity to reverse the downward spiral, close the staggering $4 trillion annual financing gap to promote development, bring millions of people out of poverty and help achieve the U.N.’s wide-ranging and badly lagging Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.Even though the gathering comes amid global economic uncertainty and high geopolitical tensions, there is hope among the hosts that the world can address one of the most important global challengesensuring all people have access to food, health care, education and water.“The government of Spain believes that this summit is an opportunity for us to change course, for us to raise our voice in the face of those who seek to convince us that rivalry and competition will set the tone for humanity and for its future,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told the delegates as he inaugurated the conference. The ambitious package seeks to reverse decline in development High-level delegations, including more than 70 world leaders, are attending in Seville, the U.N. said, along with several thousand others from international financial institutions, development banks, philanthropic organizations, the private sector and civil society.At its last preparatory meeting on June 17, the United States rejected the 38-page outcome document that had been negotiated for months by the U.N.’s 193 member nations and announced its withdrawal from the process and from the Seville conference.The rest of the countries then approved the document by consensus and sent it to Seville, where it is expected to be adopted by conference participants without changes. It will be known as the Seville Commitmentor Compromiso de Sevilla in Spanish.The document says the leaders and high-level representatives have decided to launch “an ambitious package of reforms and actions to close the financing gap with urgency,” saying it is now estimated at $4 trillion a year.Among the proposals and actions, it calls for minimum tax revenue of 15% of a country’s gross domestic product to increase government resources, a tripling of lending by multilateral development banks, and scaling up private financing by providing incentives for investing in critical areas like infrastructure. It also calls for a number of reforms to help countries deal with rising debt.U.N. trade chief Rebeca Grynspan said recently that “development is going backward” and the global debt crisis has worsened.Last year, 3.3 billion people were living in countries that pay more interest on their debts than they spend on health or education and the number will increase to 3.4 billion people this year, according to Grynspan. And developing countries will pay $947 billion to service debts this year, up from $847 billion last year.She spoke at a press conference where an expert group on debt appointed by Guterres presented 11 recommendations that they say can resolve the debt crisis, empower borrowing countries and create a fairer system. US objections to the document While the U.S. objected to many actions in the outcome document, American diplomat Jonathan Shrier told the June 17 meeting: “Our commitment to international cooperation and long-term economic development remains steadfast.”He said, however, that the text “crosses many of our red lines,” including interfering with the governance of international financial institutions, tripling the annual lending capacity of multilateral development banks and proposals envisioning a role for the U.N. in the global debt architecture.Shrier also objected to proposals on trade, tax and innovation that are not in line with U.S. policy, as well as language on a U.N. framework convention on international tax cooperation.The United States was the world’s largest single founder of foreign aid. The Trump administration has dismantled its main aid agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development, while drastically slashing foreign assistance funding, calling it wasteful and contrary to the Republican president’s agenda. Other Western donors also have cut back international aid.U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said last week that the U.S. withdrawal from the conference was “unfortunate,” stressing that “many of the recommendations you see cannot be pursued without a continuous engagement with the U.S.”After Seville, “we will engage again with the U.S. and hope that we can make the case that they be part of the success of pulling millions of people out of poverty.” Lederer reported from the United Nations. Joseph Wilson and Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Home Depot is buying specialty building products distributor GMS Inc. in a deal valued at approximately $4.3 billion.The Atlanta home improvement chain said Monday the transaction will help strengthen Home Depot’s relationship with professional contractors.GMS of Tucker, Georgia, is a distributor of specialty building products including drywall, ceilings, steel framing and other complementary products related to construction and remodeling projects in residential and commercial end markets.As part of the deal, a subsidiary of Home Depot’s SRS Distribution Inc. will start a cash tender offer to buy all outstanding shares of GMS for $110 per share. The total equity value of the transaction is approximately $4.3 billion. The deal is worth about $5.5 billion, including debt.Last year, Home Depot purchased SRS Distribution, a materials provider for professionals, in a deal valued at approximately $18.25 billion including debt. SRS provides materials for professionals like roofers, landscapers and pool contractors.The GMS transaction is expected to close by the end of fiscal 2025. Shares of the company jumped 11% in premarket trading. Home Depot shares slipped less than 1%. Michelle Chapman, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
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