Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports November and First Quarter Fiscal Year 2021 Sales Results

Here’s a headline for you: Print is alive and well with consumers everywhere. I know it’s different than the headlines you’ve been seeing lately, but it happens to be a fact. True, the magazine media industry is in a transitional moment, but a few select stats can easily paint a picture that doesn’t reflect the state of our industry. At Hearst, we value our core print business, and readers do as well. The most recent report for the first half of 2017 shows that, for the industry as a whole, print circulation is consistent, and, at Hearst, it was even slightly up. What’s more, more than half of our portfolio has seen audience growth, which is especially impressive considering that many of our brands have increased the cost of their subscriptions. Magazines have successfully extended across digital platforms, and all expressions of our brands are consistent or improving in terms of audience numbers. For example, Good Housekeeping’s circulation is 4.3 million, where it has been for many years. At the same time, the brand has seen an increase in its overall audience, with robust traffic online and millions of social media followers across platforms. All boats are lifted. Print enhances digital and vice versa. Click Read More below for more of the story.

Domestic Segment Q3 FY21 Results: Domestic revenue of $10.85 billion increased 21.0% versus last year. The increase was primarily driven by comparable sales growth of 22.6%, which was partially offset by the loss of revenue from permanent store closures in the past year. Domestic online revenue of $3.82 billion increased 173.7% on a comparable basis, and as a percentage of total Domestic revenue, online revenue increased to approximately 35.2% versus 15.6% last year. Domestic gross profit rate was 24.0% versus 24.3% last year. The gross profit rate decrease of approximately 30 basis points was primarily driven by higher supply chain costs as a result of the increased mix of online revenue and lower profit-sharing revenue from the company’s private-label and co-branded credit card arrangement. These pressures were partially offset by a more favorable promotional environment. International Segment Q3 FY21 Results: International revenue of $1.0 billion increased 25.4% versus last year. This increase was primarily driven by comparable salesgrowth of 27.3%, which was partially offset by the impact of approximately 140 basis points of negative foreign currency exchange rates. International GAAP gross profit rate was 19.0% versus 22.5% last year.

Quarter-to-date service performance data for July 1 through Sept. 3 included: *First-Class Mail: Delivered 88.7 percent of First-Class Mail on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 1.2 percentage points from the third quarter. *Marketing Mail: Delivered 92.8 percent of Marketing Mail on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 1.8 percentage points from the third quarter. *Periodicals: Delivered 82.6 percent of Periodicals on time against the USPS service standard, an improvement of 3.3 percentage points from the third quarter. During the week of Aug. 28 - Sept. 3, the Postal Service quickly prepared for and responded to Hurricane Ida, a category 4 hurricane, which made landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 29. Due to the hurricane, network service delays occurred as the storm temporarily suspended USPS operations in parts of Louisiana and other Gulf Coast and Atlantic areas in the hurricane’s path.