Warehouse clubs are selective when negotiating with vendors. This is because they stock a limited number of items and have a several supplier options for each slot.

BJ’s stocks 5,418 items. Sam’s stocks 4,568 SKUs. Costco stocks 3,241 products and PriceSmart stocks approximately 2,500 items. This is much less than 50,000 items at a supermarket and 100,000 items at a supercenter.

The warehouse clubs generate higher sales with fewer items. Therefore, every item is important. As a result, BJ’s, Costco, PriceSmart and Sam’s want suppliers who understand its business model.

Suppliers need data and information that will help them sell these operators. Vendors have questions. The answers are time consuming to acquire.

What are the warehouse clubs annual sales? How many locations exist nationally and internationally? How many items are in my category? What are Costco’s sales in my category? How do I sell seasonal merchandise? What are key packaging concepts? Why do I need to be selling Costco Business Center? What are some of the new items that Sam’s is stocking? What will the industry’s sales be in five years?

Since 1997, answers to those questions and a wide variety of data, information and analysis is provided through four products:

Warehouse Club Focus (WCF) – Published twice a month since 1997, there are more than 610+ issues of the industry’s trade publication. Another key point is the largest CPG companies read WCF. Purchase an annual subscription. Sign up for a FREE trial subscription.