In the ongoing construction of his new warehouse-store, Costco’s president in France, Gary Swindells, is savoring his victory. A flood has certainly delayed the opening of its second French store, but the American brand will set up in mid-November in Pontault-Combault, in Seine-et-Marne, 16 kilometers from Bussy-Saint-Georges, where it had planned to start his French adventure in 2015.
The Seattle distributor ended up giving up in the face of administrative complexities and numerous recourse from the competition: ” The circle is complete, launches the leader. Our demographic studies showed that the area offered opportunities. “ The Costco model is a UFO in the distribution sector as it seems to go against the grain of the evolution of consumption patterns.
No online sales site in France. Even fewer deliveries in ten minutes by electric bike. You get there by car, often covering around thirty kilometers. The size of the stores is the opposite of changes in the sector: 10,500 square meters for that of Pontault-Combault. Customers obliged to pay an annual subscription to be able to make their purchases there.
From the water pack to the diamond necklace
Finally, an offer combining food and non-food completely atypical, ranging from the pack of 40 small bottles of water at 3.99 euros … to the diamond necklace at 299,000 euros, including the two-seater sofa, the office chair. or even great wines from bottles of wine. ” The treasure hunt “, as Mr. Swindells likes to point out.
Singular, the American giant is just as much in its development on the territory. Where the Dutch discounter Action has opened 600 stores in less than ten years of presence in France, it is only in its second establishment in four years. “We always aim to have four to six stores in Ile-de-France and one to two around large cities such as Lille, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon or Toulouse”, he recalls.
“We take a small market share from everyone in each product category,” said the president of Costco in France
Installed in Villebon-sur-Yvette (Essonne) in 2017, the first Costco store, of which 165,000 customers have an access card, enabled the group to better understand the French consumer. “We had started with too many products from our Kirkland brand, but we realized that it didn’t speak to anyone”, for example the boss remembers. The assortments therefore had to be readjusted very quickly, because the company’s stores only have 3,500 items on the shelves, where a hypermarket has more than 60,000. Sales are therefore based on volumes.
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