Đi đến trình phátĐi đến nội dung chính
  • 2 ngày trước
Phụ đề
00:00Today's video is sponsored by Squarespace. Go to squarespace.com slash company man for a free trial and 10% off your first purchase.
00:15Costco is a unique business that's become very successful.
00:19They've been able to build that success in a way that's very different from their competitors.
00:23They're not everywhere. They have nearly 750 locations as of the end of 2017, which doesn't seem like many when you compare it to Walmart, who's approaching 12,000.
00:34But 750 is pretty good. They've mainly spread throughout the United States and Canada, as well as some other countries around the world.
00:4187% of their sales come from either U.S. or Canada, and 30% of those sales come from California.
00:48So if you're from Arkansas over there, I'm sorry, there doesn't appear to be any in your state.
00:54But there might be soon. Costco is on the rise. They've always been on the rise.
00:59They've been opening new locations every year.
01:01There's over 200 Costco's standing today that didn't exist 10 years ago.
01:06About 30 of them didn't exist last year.
01:09Here's some other ways to prove that they're growing.
01:12Paid memberships have gone up steadily, currently at 20,000 more than there were 10 years ago.
01:17Their number of employees have increased nearly 100,000 during that same period.
01:23Their revenue.
01:23They had a little dip there in 2009, but ever since then, it's exactly what you want to see.
01:29I think I've proven that they've grown quite a bit in the past 10 years.
01:33But you may still be skeptical.
01:35Just because they're growing doesn't mean they're successful.
01:38What if they're opening too many locations?
01:40Maybe they're opening locations too close to each other.
01:43Maybe a lot of the new ones just aren't doing well.
01:45This is the best I can do to address that.
01:48It's comparable sales growth.
01:50It's a way to measure how each location is doing.
01:52This year, it shows 4%, which means on average, their existing stores are generating 4% more sales
02:00when compared to the previous year.
02:02The negative one in 2009 is bad.
02:04It's messed up the whole graph.
02:06That's from that little dip we saw in 2009, but usually these numbers are positive.
02:10Costco is opening more locations each year, all while increasing sales in their existing locations.
02:18So, have I done it?
02:19Have I proven that they're successful?
02:21I hope I have.
02:22So, now I can move on to how they did it.
02:25For the people from any of the 6 continents that aren't North America, and the people of Arkansas,
02:30let me be clear about what makes Costco different.
02:33It's a warehouse.
02:34Here's a picture of a warehouse, and here's a picture of Costco.
02:38There's pallets everywhere with boxes on them that contain large quantities of food.
02:42They're stacked up to the ceiling.
02:44You don't buy the six-pack of Rice Krispie Treats.
02:47You buy the big box with 54 of them.
02:49And since you're buying it in bulk, you get quite a deal.
02:52It does have a layout where everything is accessible and properly displayed,
02:56as well as the cashiers at the front, but other than that, it's just a warehouse.
03:01That's how they refer to their own locations.
03:04Here's another graph.
03:05This is what makes them different from most other stores, and I think it's pretty self-explanatory.
03:11No?
03:13Okay, I'll explain it.
03:14It's gross profit margin.
03:16It's a measure of how much money they actually make on each sale.
03:20In 2017, where it says 11.33%, it means for every dollar in sales, they actually made 11 cents.
03:28When you look at this chart, 11.33% is pretty high for them.
03:32But now when we compare it to some other stores, it's not that high at all.
03:37It's very low.
03:38These heights that they're finally achieving are about half of Walmart and a third of Whole Foods.
03:44The point is, these other places make money when they sell you something, and Costco really doesn't.
03:50Here's what they do.
03:51They buy a ton of something and then do whatever they can to get rid of it.
03:56Buying a bunch of stuff allows them to get it for really cheap, but then since they're
04:00buying so much, they need to sell it really fast.
04:03They go through so much stuff before they've even paid for it, they've already sold it
04:08to us.
04:09And they don't buy five different flavors of crackers in three different sizes like most
04:13stores.
04:14They buy one flavor in one size, and that size is really big.
04:18Then they take that big box of crackers and they price it really cheap so you'll buy it.
04:22People would probably buy the smaller box if they had the option, but they don't have
04:27the option, so they go with the bigger box.
04:29The high volume of sales does help compensate for the small margins, but there's a bigger
04:35part to this whole plan.
04:36Remember when I showed you their increasing paid memberships?
04:39If you don't know much about Costco, you were probably confused at that point.
04:43You have to pay to shop at Costco.
04:45Each year, it's $60 for a Gold Star membership, which is just the regular membership, and for
04:51$120, you can become an executive member.
04:55You get a fancier looking card and a 2% annual reward up to $1,000.
05:00It's basically the more attractive option if you shop there a lot.
05:03These little $60 and $120 membership fees, that's what Costco cares about.
05:09All of their cheap prices were just part of the plan to get you to buy the membership.
05:14Costco is famous for their $4.99 rotisserie chicken, and people wonder, how can they afford
05:20to sell it for so cheap?
05:21Well, they can't afford it.
05:23They're losing money on it.
05:25But it's all part of the plan to get you to buy that membership.
05:28And the same thing goes for their $1.50 hot dogs and inexpensive pizza at the food court.
05:33Don't think of Costco as a traditional store.
05:36Think of it as Netflix.
05:37Netflix is after that subscription fee in the same way that Costco is after that membership
05:43fee.
05:44Or maybe think of it as a gym membership.
05:46In all cases, anything they do is just designed to convince you to sign up.
05:52Buying and selling a large volume of products with little profit is just their way to entice
05:57you into that $60 or hopefully $120 annual fee.
06:01The money they make aside from that, I would consider a bonus.
06:04And looking back to that graph, they have been raising the money they make from selling
06:09things, and that's while raising their paid memberships.
06:12Again, it's nowhere near the other stores, but it's not meant to be.
06:16The fact that it's as high as it is means they're doing well.
06:20I had a comment on one of my videos a few months ago.
06:22This guy suggested I do a video on Costco.
06:25He says he works for Costco and is making $14 an hour, which is expected to go up, along
06:31with full benefits and a retirement plan at age 20.
06:34He says that's the standard where he works, and I should make a video about how they're
06:39able to do these kind of things.
06:40He concluded by thanking me and calling me the goat.
06:43I responded by saying it was a good suggestion, and two others responded with things that crushed
06:48his optimism, and by the end of it, he was feeling bad to go to work in the morning, but
06:52he brought up something interesting.
06:54Costco pays their employees much more money than other companies would for similar jobs.
06:59The average employee makes around $20 an hour and has full benefits.
07:03It's yet another thing that separates them from everyone else, and paying them like this
07:08does have a lot of benefits to the company.
07:10It reduces the employee turnover rate.
07:13It makes them less likely to quit since it's hard for them to find something better.
07:16Low turnover means less money spent on selecting and training new people.
07:20Also, it makes the employees happier with their jobs.
07:23It should lead to a better environment and make the customers happier, which falls into their
07:28main plan of making the customers want to come back to renew their membership.
07:31And about 90% of them do renew their membership, by the way.
07:35For the question of how they're able to do it, the real answer is the same as how they're
07:39able to sell those chickens for so cheap.
07:41It's a sacrifice to help their main goal, but it is less of a sacrifice than you might expect.
07:47The Costco employees make the company more money than a store like Walmart.
07:51Walmart has to neatly stock shelves, and Costco really doesn't.
07:55Think of the cashiers at Costco.
07:57When they make one scan, it's for a $10 box of Nutri-Grain bars.
08:01When the cashier at Walmart makes one scan, it's for a $3 box of Nutri-Grain bars.
08:06It was the same amount of work for Costco to make the bigger sale.
08:10The ratio of sales per employee is much higher for Costco than their competitors.
08:16So the higher wages is really just a sacrifice for the greater goal, but things like this make
08:21it less of a sacrifice than it would be for others.
08:24When trying to answer the question of why is Costco so successful, I noticed a theme.
08:30It's that people seem to like Costco.
08:32The customers enjoy the low prices and the friendly employees.
08:36The employees enjoy the high pay and the benefits.
08:38Even the investors are fond of Costco.
08:41It's valued at $83 billion on the stock market, which is overpriced.
08:46But it only gets that way because the investors believe in it and give it that value.
08:51They've been giving out quarterly dividends of $0.50.
08:54If you own their stock all through last year, you receive $2 in dividends.
08:59Investors like something like that that they can count on.
09:02It's also a good sign for the company that they're even able to do it.
09:05They also had a special dividend last year of $7 and a $5 special dividend in 2015.
09:12These are things that make investors happy.
09:14Everything they do just seems generous.
09:17Now whether their intentions are pure or they're just trying to be liked to sell memberships
09:21and raise their stock price, I have no idea.
09:24But to try to answer the big question of why is Costco so successful, well, they use some
09:29unique strategies to sell these memberships.
09:32The strategies are all the things I talked about.
09:34Buying a ton of stuff and selling it quick at low prices, selling these chickens at a loss,
09:39paying their employees more than the others.
09:41They're all just ultimately ways to sell more memberships.
09:44And I believe that for Costco, the definition of success is selling more memberships.
09:50Let me know in the comments what you think about Costco and their unique strategies.
09:54Do you have a Costco membership and is it worth it?
09:57And that question wasn't directed toward the people of Arkansas.
10:00I already know your answer.
10:02But if you have anything else to say about the topic, leave it in the comments.
10:06I'd like to hear what you have to say.
10:08And I'm happy to announce that my new website is up and running.
10:11You all gave me ideas for it, blog posts about my videos and a way to submit official video
10:15suggestions.
10:16And now it's all a reality.
10:18Thanks to Squarespace.
10:20If you want to make your own website, give them a try.
10:23There's no technical skills required.
10:24If you're a musician or an artist, here's a great way for you to have an online presence.
10:29It's all in one platform, no plugins or updates or patches, there's 24-7 customer support every
10:36day of the year.
10:37Start your free trial today at squarespace.com slash companyman and get 10% off your first
10:43purchase.
10:44The link for it is in the description as well as the link to my website.
Hãy là người đầu tiên nhận xét
Thêm nhận xét của bạn

Được khuyến cáo

4:59
14:39
12:26