Costco's Digital Sales Top $33 Billion, Up More Than 20%

By Amara Osei

Costco's digitally-enabled sales exceeded $33 billion in its latest fiscal year, CEO Ron Vachris told investors on Thursday, and the figure grew more than 20% over the period. The number, disclosed on the fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call, marks the clearest signal yet that Costco's business is increasingly living beyond the doors of its core warehouses.

The growth engine is no secret. Costco has spent the past month converting delivery-platform partnerships from regional experiments into national infrastructure.

How delivery partnerships built the $33 billion figure

Digitally-enabled sales — a category that includes sales made through third-party delivery platforms, not just Costco's own channels — crossed the $33 billion threshold during the fiscal year, according to Vachris. The more than 20% growth rate outpaces what most mature retailers post in e-commerce, though Costco did not break out how much of the total came specifically from third-party platforms versus its own site and app.

That gap matters. A headline number that bundles first-party and marketplace-driven sales makes platform partnerships look more central than the disclosed figures can prove on their own.

What changed at DoorDash and Uber Eats?

Within the past month, Costco announced two nationwide expansions in the U.S.:

• DoorDash: Costco and DoorDash expanded their global partnership with a nationwide U.S. launch, taking delivery beyond the earlier limited footprint.
• Uber Eats: Costco separately announced nationwide delivery on Uber Eats, giving members a second major aggregator with full national coverage.

Both moves follow the same rule: customers must enter their Costco membership number at checkout to prove they are members. That requirement is the hinge of the strategy — it lets Costco sell through third-party logistics while keeping the membership model, the core of its profit pool, intact.

What Costco did not say

The earnings call disclosure left several questions open. Vachris gave the aggregate figure and the growth rate but no margin detail, no average order value, and no split between delivery-platform sales and Costco's own digital channels. Nor did the company quantify how much of the more than 20% growth the new DoorDash and Uber Eats expansions have driven so far, or when investors should expect them to register in reported numbers.

The nationwide launches are also recent. A month of availability means the $33 billion total largely reflects the period before full national coverage existed, which cuts both ways: it understates the partnerships' potential, and it means current claims about their impact rest on expectation rather than reported results.

Why the membership check matters

The checkout requirement to enter a membership number is more than an administrative detail. It preserves Costco's two-revenue-stream model — membership fees plus merchandise sales — while outsourcing last-mile delivery to partners that already run national courier networks. Costco gets reach without building logistics; the platforms get a mass-market grocer with a locked-in, paying customer base.

Whether platform-delivered baskets turn out to be as profitable as warehouse baskets is the number Costco has not yet put in front of investors.

The next earnings call will show whether nationwide DoorDash and Uber Eats coverage moves the growth rate above that 20% mark — or whether the digital figure, like the warehouses themselves, has found its comfortable ceiling.