This is not a good year for big department store chains and retailers. J.C. Penney (ticker: JCP ) lost more than half of its market value after the company's rebranding efforts failed to improve sales. Sears and Staples are burning cash, and could soon become mere entries in the archives of Wikipedia. To keep same-store sales growth in the 2% range, some companies are investing their gross margins and lowering prices even further, such as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) .
The big exception here is Costco (COST). This year has been outstanding for the retailer, and with more than $100 billion in annual revenue, Costco keeps growing its top-line and making profits consistently. In the fourth quarter of 2013, the company saw 5% growth in U.S. same-store sales and 7% growth in international sales. Moreover, the company even managed to improve profitability by 1.3% despite the effect of negative currency fluctuations. So what is Costco doing different? Is Costco on its way to replace Wal-Mart and become the largest retailer in the world?
This is not a good year for big department store chains and retailers. J.C. Penney (ticker: JCP ) lost more than half of its market value after the company's rebranding efforts failed to improve sales. Sears and Staples are burning cash, and could soon become mere entries in the archives of Wikipedia. To keep same-store sales growth in the 2% range, some companies are investing their gross margins and lowering prices even further, such as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) .
The big exception here is Costco (COST). This year has been outstanding for the retailer, and with more than $100 billion in annual revenue, Costco keeps growing its top-line and making profits consistently. In the fourth quarter of 2013, the company saw 5% growth in U.S. same-store sales and 7% growth in international sales. Moreover, the company even managed to improve profitability by 1.3% despite the effect of negative currency fluctuations. So what is Costco doing different? Is Costco on its way to replace Wal-Mart and become the largest retailer in the world?
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