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Website and app traffic both grew in the quarter, and Costco executives attributed digital sales growth largely to personalization and same-day delivery. Executives also commented on potential impacts from the war in the Middle East.

Costco ecommerce grew at more than triple the rate of comparable sales in its fiscal Q2 2026, which ended Feb. 15.

Comparable sales — which include those from locations Costco operated in the prior year’s Q2 as well as those from ecommerce — increased 7.4% in the quarter. In the U.S., Costco comparable sales grew 5.9% year over year in Q2. Meanwhile, Costco’s comparable sales increased 10.1% in Canada during Q2 and 13% across the rest of its international business.

Net sales in its fiscal Q2 2026, which include those from locations Costco opened after its prior second quarter, increased 9.1%. That’s up to $68.24 billion from $62.53 billion. For its full fiscal first half, Costco net sales increased 8.7%, to $134.22 billion, from $123.52 billion last year.

At the same time, Costco net income in Q2 2026 increased to about $2.04 billion. That’s 13.8% growth from about $1.79 billion the prior year.

CEO Ron Vachris opened his address to investors on Costco’s quarterly earnings call by discussing tariffs.

“The future impact of tariffs remains extremely fluid as the recently eliminated IEEPA tariffs have now been replaced with new global tariffs for at least the next 150 days,” he said. “Our buyers continue to act with great agility and urgency, always with the goal of reducing the impact of tariff on prices for our members.”

Costco is No. 7 in the Top 2000 Database. The database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers in North America by their annual ecommerce sales. It’s also the fourth-largest Mass Merchant in the database.

Costco ecommerce sales in Q2 2026

In its fiscal Q2 2026, Costco ecommerce sales increased 22.6% year over year. For its full fiscal first half, Costco ecommerce sales grew 21.6% year over year.

For all of February, Costco’s ecommerce sales increased 21.8% year over year. Meanwhile, total comparable sales during the same period increased 7.9%.

“In digital, we continue to make strides with our road map to deliver a more seamless experience for members in warehouse and online,” Vachris said.

Costco website traffic increased 32% in its fiscal Q2, according to chief financial officer Gary Millerchip. He added that Costco app traffic increased 45% in Q2.

Through Costco’s ecommerce channels, several categories grew at double-digit rates in Q2, he said:

  • Pharmacy
  • Gold and jewelry
  • Toys
  • Tires
  • Small electrics
  • Special events
  • Housewares

Millerchip said same-day delivery through Instacart, Uber Eats and DoorDash continues to grow at a faster pace than overall Costco digital sales. In January, Costco and Instacart expanded their partnership to Spain and France.

How Costco is using AI for personalization in its digital channels

Vachris added that on Costco’s digital sites, the retailer continues to roll out additional personalization capabilities. Those are “resonating well” with customers, he said, and “starting to have measurable impact on ecommerce sales growth.”

“As consumers embrace AI and their shopping habits, we believe our commitments to providing the best value on great quality items can make Costco a beneficiary of these shifts,” Vachris said. “We’re working closely with the leading AI companies to ensure our values will be visible to existing and potential future Costco members as they engage with these tools.”

Vachris did not specify which AI companies Costco is working with.

“The enhancements we are making to deliver a more personalized digital experience for our members are starting to create measurable impacts,” Millerchip said.

In Q2, Costco’s personalized product recommendation carousels drove more than $470 million in ecommerce sales, according to Millerchip. Costco’s updated product display pages (PDPs) have also driven incremental sales on its ecommerce website and increased traffic on its same-day delivery sites.

“We have a clear road map for future digital enhancements and believe these will allow us to continue to grow digitally-enabled sales at a faster pace than overall sales,” Millerchip said.

Middle East war’s impact on Costco

Vachris noted that Costco has not yet seen “any disruptions from the Middle East in our regular merchandise flow, but we’re watching that very cautiously, and we’re staying on top of that.”

Millerchip said the war in the Middle East between Iran and U.S.-backed Israel is still in its “early days.” As such, he said it’s too soon to know what the longer-term impact might be.

However, he noted that the war in the Middle East could impact fuel costs and shipping schedules “if there is instability in the region for a sustained period of time.”

“But generally speaking, if gas prices start to increase, then we tend to see our value position resonates better with members just because, obviously, we want to be the pricing authority on gas,” Millerchip said. “And so when prices are higher, that will tend to cause members to maybe take the extra mile that it might be involved to get to the gas station because of the incremental value they see there. But obviously, we’ll have to see what happens with gas prices over the coming months there.”

How many members does Costco have?

Costco ended its Q2 with 82.1 million paid household members. That’s up 9.5% year over year. It’s also an increase from 81.4 million in Q1.

Of those, 40.4 million had paid executive memberships — 9.5% more than at the end of Q2 in its fiscal 2025.

Costco also ended Q1 with 147.2 million cardholders, a 4.7% year-over-year increase. That’s also up from 145.9 million cardholders in Q1.

In Q2, Costco generated about $1.36 billion in membership fee income. That’s 13.6% year-over-year growth. At the end of Q2, Costco’s U.S. and Canada membership renewal rate was 92.1%. Worldwide, it was 89.7%, unchanged from Q1.

“We continue to focus on increasing the renewal rate of these new online members through targeted digital communications and retention strategies,” Millerchip said. “And those efforts partially offset the negative effect of the increased penetration of online sign-ups.”

How many countries have a Costco?

As of the end of its fiscal Q1 2026, Costco operates 924 warehouses. Of those, 634 are in the United States and Puerto Rico. Listed by amount, the rest are in:

  • Canada (114)
  • Mexico (42)
  • Japan (37)
  • The United Kingdom (29)
  • South Korea (20)
  • Australia (15)
  • Taiwan (14)
  • China (7)
  • Spain (5)
  • France (3)
  • Sweden (2)
  • Iceland (1)
  • New Zealand (1)

Costco operates ecommerce sites in:

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • South Korea
  • Taiwan
  • The United States
  • The United Kingdom

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s update on Costco ecommerce sales.

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