Price matching allows customers to shop around for a product with different retailers and get the best deal possible. This is only possible if the stores that sell that particular product do price matching with each other.
Since Costco is amongst the most affordable shopping retailers in the United States, customers often ask if Costco price matches any of their competitors.
After some research, here’s what I’ve found.
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Does Costco Price Match In 2023?
As of 2023, Costco doesn’t offer price matching for any retailers or grocery stores across the United States. This can come as quite a surprise to some customers as many of the Costco competitors such as Best Buy price match.
But, Costco have a pretty good reason for not allowing price matching, and honestly, it makes sense. Their prices are already pretty low and if you’re an executive member, you can save even more money from your purchase. You’ll also get free Costco delivery, which is nice.
If you’re interested in finding out why Costco doesn’t price match and every other detail relevant to the topic, continue reading.
What Is The Costco Price Match Policy?
Costco doesn’t have a price matching policy in place. That is perhaps because they don’t do price matching at all. What they do have, however, is a policy on Costco price adjustments.
This is a way for Costco to issue a credit for the difference in price the customer has paid and the promotional price of a product. In other words, if you purchased a product from Costco within 30 days, and then that same product goes on sale, you can request to get the difference in price back.
You’ll often get that paid back to your original payment method or topped onto a Costco cash card.
Does Costco Price Match Fuel Costs?
No, there is no Costco price matching policy in place as far as gas is concerned. The reason for that is because it wouldn’t make sense as Costco already has one of the cheapest gas prices going in the whole country.
To take advantage of these under-market gas prices, you will need to have an active Costco membership.
Why Does Costco Not Price Match?
Though price matching is quite a popular practice amongst retailers, Costco doesn’t participate in this type of strategy for maximizing revenue.
And they actually have a few good reasons for not doing that.
Here are five reasons why Costco doesn’t price match.
Even Smaller Profit Margins
When a company offers price matching to its customers, if the customer can show proof that they have found a particular product elsewhere for cheaper, Costco will be forced to sell the customer that product for the same price as the customer presented.
That will naturally slim down profit margins as Costco will sell the product for less than originally displayed.
In many cases, certain companies might have better logistics and distribution centers, allowing them to create a bigger profit margin, and thus, reduce the price further.
That can cause retailers like Costco to even come out at a loss in some cases.
It Will Encourage Customers To Shop Around
When price matching is a thing, logically, customers would want the best value for money possible. As a result, rather than coming directly to Costco to buy a certain product, customers will visit various different competitors before they make their decision.
This will ultimately cause Costco to miss out on a sale that they would have otherwise been able to get.
Potential Price Reductions Across The Board
The whole point of price matching is to bring down the price of the product as low as possible. While that is great for the consumer, it is far from ideal for the business, which has one goal – make as much profit as possible.
If retailers did price matching, then customers will get used to getting cheaper and cheaper products over time. This will make customers reluctant to buy expensive products and wait for Costco to bring the price down or find it elsewhere for cheaper.
Devaluing The Name Of The Brand
Though Costco is already known as a super affordable place to shop for all household necessities, price matching only further devalues the name of the brand.
This is because customers will associate Costco with discounts and getting products for cheaper if they find them somewhere else for less – no matter the original cost.
Costco Already Offer Low Prices On All Products
While price matching is a very logical idea to put into practice, Costco already offers a pretty low price on all of its products.
Though the price matching will likely bring in a few extra customers, it is unlikely to make a huge difference since customers are already preferring Costco due to their low prices on groceries, appliances, furniture, and even gas.
Will Costco Honor Old Sale Price?
As Costco stands behind their 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, they will happily refund you back the difference in price for an item you bought if it went on sale within 30 days of purchase.
Now, there are a few terms and conditions that you need to meet in order to qualify.
First, you need to make sure that you bought the item within 30 days of it going on promotion. Then you need to make sure that you request Costco to honor the price difference while the product is still on sale.
If you meet the price adjustment eligibility, then go over to your local Costco with your receipt and the staff will help you from there. If you no longer have your receipt, then don’t worry. Costco can access all of your purchasing history on your membership account.
Now, if you bought a pillow for $50 and later find out that it was on sale for $30 30 days ago, you can’t ask Costco to refund you the difference.
Does Costco Price Match In Canada?
The Costco warehouses in Canada follow pretty much the same policies as the Costco stores over in the United States. As a result, Costco in Canada does not price match any North American competitor in the area.
They do, however, have a price adjustment policy just like their partners in the United States.
Does Costco Price Match In The United Kingdom?
No, Costco doesn’t price match with any grocery, technology, or appliance store in the United Kingdom. This is likely because the prices at Costco over in the United Kingdom are also relatively lower than the market average – just like in the United States.
And for that reason, it doesn’t make any sense for Costco to further reduce their profit margins.
What Are Costco’s Price Matching Policies Around The World?
From the research that we’ve done, it seems that the Costco price matching policy is the exact same throughout the world – regardless of whether you’re in the United States or Japan.
Does Costco Price Match Amazon?
Neither does Amazon nor Costco price match each other.
On one hand, Amazon is often the distributor of a particular product rather than the seller. As a result, this doesn’t grant them any permission to play around with the prices sellers place on the products they sell on Amazon.
On the flip side, Costco are firm on their price as they already sell a lot of their products for very low prices on top of the benefits customers get when they become Costco members.
What Are Some Benefits Of Price Matching?
When it comes to price matching, there are benefits that will benefit both parties. Here are some of the most impactful benefits to both companies and customers:
Customers Can Use The Internet To Their Advantage
Going around stores trying to find the best deals can be exhausting. With the power of the internet, you can find if two stores that price match against each other sell the same product in less than a minute.
Had you gone to both stores to manually search, this whole process would have otherwise taken you over an hour.
The internet provides great convenience when it comes to price matching and getting the best value for your money. So, if you’re into saving every penny you have or have to use EBT due to your current situation, it’s worth doing a fair bit of research on the internet before you buy a product.
In some cases, that alone can save you a few hundred dollars from your purchase if you’re buying expensive furniture or appliances.
Customers Will Save Money In The Long Run
When shopping for groceries and household items, price matching is a smart way to save money. Rather than buying an item that’s on sale at your local store and then having to buy it again later when the price drops even further, you can simply bring in a print-out of a competitor’s ad, and the cashier will give you the difference.
However, if you have very little self-restraint when it comes to couponing or shopping deals, this is unlikely to be a smart move for your bank account. Unless you want to spend hours sifting through flyers every week, you’ll likely spend more time price matching than actually shopping.
On top of that, keep in mind that some stores will only match prices from certain competitors.
Price Matching Is A Great Way To Get New Business
Particularly for stores that are not as popular, price matching can be a great way to get customers into the store. If you find out that your competitor is offering an item you carry at a much lower price, list it online and in print advertisements as well as flyers to drive new customers into your store.
If you’re a smaller company with limited funds, this is likely to be one of the best ways to bring in new customers as consumers love deals and saving money. Sure, they might only buy from you if price matching is an option, but those purchases can go a long way to helping keep your store afloat.
The Cost Of Products And Services Remain Competitive
When price matching exists, retailers will be a lot more hesitant with increasing their prices as customers will simply go and shop elsewhere.
For example, if Best Buy and Costco price matched with each other for all appliance products but Walmart didn’t, customers will simply go to either Costco or Best Buy as they provide the most value for money.
As a result, that will put off Walmart from increasing their prices in order to remain competitive.
Increased Customer Confidence
When a company has a price matching policy in place, that will automatically signal to customers that the business has their best interest in favor.
As customers get more and more savvy, little things today matter more than ever, and having a price match policy might just push them over the edge so they come and shop with you over your competition.
And that’s not all. By losing out on a few dollars from a price match, if the customer has had a great experience shopping at your business, then they could potentially return in the future without needing an incentive such as a price matching policy.
Conclusion – Does Costco Price Match In 2023?
As of 2023, Costco doesn’t price match with any large retailer in the United States. The company are already successful as it is and unlike competitors in the likes of Best Buy, price matching doesn’t make sense for Costco since their prices are already lower than pretty much anywhere on the market.
Though price matching isn’t a thing when it comes to Costco, the retailer will honor the difference in price and refund you some money if you buy a product, which later on goes on sale.
Their goal is to be always fair with their customers and to be honest, they’re doing a great job at doing just that.
