Retailer & Marketplace · vs · Retailer & Marketplace
Costco vs Sam's Club
Structured technology and market comparison · 2026
Direct Feature Comparison
Costco · vs · Sam's ClubMembership warehouse retailer selling bulk goods online and in-store.
Membership warehouse retailer with e-commerce, subscriptions and retail media.
Comparison Analysis
What is the main difference between Costco and Sam's Club?
When comparing Costco and Sam's Club, both platforms operate within the E-Commerce Platform, Display, Web & Mobile, and Retailer & Marketplace ecosystem. Costco is positioned as Membership warehouse retailer selling bulk goods online and in-store, whereas Sam's Club focuses on Membership warehouse retailer with e-commerce, subscriptions and retail media. Decision-makers evaluate both solutions when orchestrating their commercial monetization and technology stack.
What are the top alternatives to Costco and Sam's Club?
When evaluating Costco and Sam's Club, enterprise buyers also consider other platforms in E-Commerce Platform, Display, Web & Mobile, and Retailer & Marketplace. You can discover the full competitive landscape and evaluate other alternatives by viewing their respective footprint profiles on Polaris7.
Market Signals
Recent Market Signals & Activity: Costco vs Sam's Club
Documented market movements, strategic partnerships, product releases, and regulatory developments mapped across Polaris7.
Costco
Recent Signals
- ·SEC APIfinancials
8-K Financial Filing Analysis for Costco (2026-07-08)
On July 7, 2026, Costco Wholesale Corporation announced that its Board of Directors approved a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.47 per share on the company's common stock. The dividend will be payable on August 7, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 24, 2026. This capital return action underscores Costco's sustained operational cash flow generation and reinforces its ongoing commitment to consistent shareholder returns.
- Costco's Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $1.47 per share of common stock.
- The dividend is payable on August 7, 2026, to shareholders of record as of July 24, 2026.
- ·CNBC TechnologyRetail Media
Costco and Uber Expand Grocery Delivery to 47 States
Costco and Uber have expanded their U.S. grocery delivery partnership on Uber Eats from 17 to 47 states, making nearly 600 Costco warehouses available for delivery to Costco members. The expansion, announced on September 16, 2026, requires Uber Eats shoppers to verify their Costco membership before purchasing. As part of the deal, some Costco members receive discounts on Uber One subscriptions, and customers can purchase Costco memberships through the Uber Eats app. This move intensifies competition in the grocery delivery space, where Uber Eats faces rivals like Instacart, DoorDash, Amazon Fresh, and Walmart, which recently launched its own restaurant delivery service with partners like Subway and Dunkin'.
- Costco and Uber expanded their U.S. Uber Eats delivery partnership from 17 to 47 states.
- Nearly 600 Costco locations are now available for delivery on Uber Eats for Costco members.
- Uber Eats shoppers must verify their Costco membership before purchasing.
- ·The DrumRetail Media
Why good retailers make bad ad tech decisions
This article from The Drum, written by commerce media columnist Kiri Masters, explores the organizational and financial challenges that hinder retailers from adopting new adtech, despite the availability of advanced technology. It describes the gap between technology capabilities and an organization's ability to approve and implement it, using the example of a retail media leader who manually adjusts an inadequate ad server to compensate for poor forecasting. The article outlines four eras of retail media: in-house builds, economic pendulum swings, cloud/composable architectures, and AI-era data requirements. It contrasts different RMN strategies, such as Costco's hand-built stack and Ace Hardware's use of CitrusAd, highlighting that tech choices often reflect historical timing rather than current needs. It discusses the 'budget clock' and 'career clock' that constrain decisions, and concludes with expert insights on proposition-led strategies versus technology-led ones, noting the trend of advertiser consolidation on major DSPs.
- Citing a retail media leader, the article states that a mid-sized US network uses an ad server built for legacy publishers, which fails to forecast retailer traffic patterns, leading to underdelivery.
- The article says that the retail media leader manually adjusts the platform's forecasts every week or two to avoid missing seven-figure ad revenue.
- GrowthLoop launched an end-to-end commerce media network solution in August (likely 2026) to help retailers set up or upgrade networks.
Sam's Club
Recent Signals
- ·AdExchangerRetail Media
Sam's Club Launches Predictive Ad Targeting Suite
Sam's Club Connect, the membership-based retailer's advertising business, launched a suite of new predictive targeting and measurement products. The tools allow brands to create custom predictive modeling audiences for churn prevention, brand loyalty, and targeting shoppers likely to make high-end purchases. One product, Predictive Precision Targeting, was tested by Procter & Gamble for Cascade Platinum dish detergent, achieving a 94% accuracy rate in identifying households with a propensity to upgrade and a 71% increase in total spend. The suite also includes tools for conquesting campaigns and forecasting buyers for rare, high-end items like TVs, leveraging Sam's Club's longitudinal member purchase data and AI models.
- Sam's Club Connect launched a suite of new targeting and measurement products on September 16, 2026.
- The suite includes Predictive Precision Targeting, churn prevention, and high-end purchase prediction tools.
- A test of Predictive Precision Targeting with Procter & Gamble's Cascade Platinum achieved 94% accuracy in identifying upgrade-prone households.
- ·Business Wire: Connected TVRetailer & Marketplace
Walmart and Sam's Club Cut Prices for Summer
Walmart Inc. and its Sam’s Club division announced nationwide summer price reductions across grocery, household essentials, outdoor living, toys and apparel. Walmart is rolling out thousands of lower prices through its signature Rollbacks, with sample items (e.g., ground beef, cherries, soft drinks, snacks, ice cream) listed with new and former prices. Sam’s Club said it lowered prices on more than 250 items, highlighting Member’s Mark meat and snack items and competitive fuel pricing. Offers are available in stores, clubs, online (Walmart.com, SamsClub.com) and via mobile apps, with pickup and delivery options in many locations. The release reiterates Walmart’s scale (about 10,900 stores, ~280 million weekly customers/members) and FY2026 revenue of $713 billion.
- Walmart and Sam's Club announced thousands of lower prices nationwide via Walmart Rollbacks and Sam’s Club offers.
- Walmart featured Rollbacks include 1 lb. 73% Ground Beef ($5.94, was $6.74) and Fresh Red Cherries 2.25 lb. bag ($5.63, was $11.18).
- Sam’s Club lowered prices on more than 250 items, including Member's Mark Bone-In Chicken Wings ($2.00/lb., was $2.88/lb.) and Member's Mark Beef Hot Dogs ($10.86, was $12.96).
- ·AdweekCommerce & Retail Media
Retail Marketing’s Future: First-Party Data
An ADWEEK House Cannes Lions panel co-hosted with Sam’s Club argued that retail marketing should prioritize first-party data and customer insights to build long-term relationships beyond immediate ROAS. Sam’s Club’s membership model — which requires members to scan an ID at checkout — creates persistent shopper signals that the retailer and brand partners can use to target and measure campaigns. P&G’s Jacques Hagopian described a Sam’s Club use case where first-party member data helped P&G identify 800,000 likely households for Cascade Platinum Plus, producing a reported 2X increase in marketing effectiveness. Panelists also highlighted AI and emerging “agentic” automation as tools to scale personalized, continuous retail experiences and to power more creative in‑store activations that convert to sales.
- ADWEEK House Cannes Lions panel co-hosted with Sam’s Club featured Ryan Joe (ADWEEK), Harvey Ma (Sam’s Club) and Jacques Hagopian (P&G).
- Sam’s Club’s membership model requires members to scan a membership ID every time they shop, generating persistent first-party shopper data.
- P&G used Sam’s Club first-party data to identify 800,000 households for a Cascade Platinum Plus campaign, resulting in a reported 2X increase in marketing effectiveness.
Compare their exact ecosystem overlaps.
Explore all deep relationships in Polaris7. Discover exactly which mutual clients, integrated technologies, and overlapping partners Costco and Sam's Club share across the market ecosystem.