Behind the Business Blog

Originally published on ShankenNewsDaily.com

With more than $4 billion in beverage alcohol sales last fiscal year, Costco has seen steady annual growth in wine, spirits, and beer, even from a huge base. New stores and new beverage alcohol departments have been added nationally and internationally on a yearly basis. Few retailers can match what Costco is doing, in both sales and scope.

In the U.S., Costco has licenses to sell beer in 458 stores and can sell wine in 448 stores. In addition, 317 stores are licensed to sell spirits. Overseas, the company has an additional 162 licenses for wine and beer retail and 141 licenses for spirits.

Beverage alcohol sales at Costco were $4.4 billion last fiscal year, marking a 6% increase over the year prior. The company is one of the largest wine retailers in the world, with winemaking up roughly half of its total beverage sales—more than $2 billion last fiscal year. Spirits and beer split the remaining half relatively equally.

“We’re committed to the beverage alcohol category,” says Annette Alvarez-Peters, assistant vice president and general merchandise manager for beverage alcohol at Costco. “We show substantial increases and comps year over year. We’re disciplined in our approach to the business. We have new warehouses opening and, as laws have changed, we’ve been able to add beverage alcohol licenses to some existing warehouses.”

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– Women of the Vine & Spirits, the world’s leading organization dedicated to empowering and advancing women in the alcohol beverage industry, announced today the launch of new Corporate Membership benefits that support women-owned businesses and supplier diversity programs.

Women of the Vine & Spirits is committed to raising awareness for why, where and how to buy women-owned products and services to further women’s economic growth and gender equality on a global scale. The Certified Women-Owned Logo and Database is a game-changer for buyers, wholesalers, and consumers to easily identify certified women-owned brands in the alcohol beverage industry.

In the U.S., 71 percent of wine retail purchases are currently made by women. A study conducted by Walmart, America’s largest retailer, found that 90 percent of female customers in the U.S. would go out of their way to purchase products from women. A recent study by Wine Intelligence and Women of the Vine & Spirits showed that women are more likely to purchase wines made by female winemakers when this fact is consciously pointed out to them in an explicit way.

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