Seven years after entering the Chinese mainland market, membership-based warehouse retailer Costco has taken a pivotal step by opening its online storefront to consumers nationwide.
On July 22, JD.com's official WeChat account, "JD Blackboard," announced a partnership between Costco and JD.com, designating JD.com as Costco's sole official e-commerce partner in China. The JD.com Costco official flagship store offers approximately 700 products, spanning core categories like snacks, seasonings, and home care items. The store began a trial operation in May and now boasts over 270,000 followers. Non-members can now directly purchase Costco products, and delivery has expanded from store-adjacent areas to nationwide coverage.
This move breaks Costco's long-held paid membership rule, while expanding the delivery network for a retailer with only seven physical stores in mainland China. Costco told Economic Observer that by leveraging JD.com, it has extended its service radius from store surroundings to the entire country, boosting brand recognition and market penetration. As a partner, JD.com's super supply chain has become a crucial support for Costco's Chinese market expansion and a key sales growth platform.
Compared to rival membership warehouse Sam's Club, which has opened stores more aggressively, Costco's physical expansion has been slower. Thus, opening online doors to all consumers is seen as a major breakthrough for Costco. Whether this can help narrow the gap with Sam's Club in China is now a key focus for the industry.
Partnership Details
The core of this partnership lies in two breakthroughs: one concerning who can buy, and the other, where delivery can reach.
First, it removes the membership barrier. Unlike physical stores requiring a 299 yuan annual membership for entry, the JD.com Costco flagship store is open to all consumers, allowing non-members to order directly. Non-members pay 20% more than member prices. For example, the top-selling glutinous rice crackers—over 20,000 units sold—cost 59.88 yuan for non-members versus 49.9 yuan for members; the second-best-selling pistachios are priced at 143.88 yuan for non-members and 119.9 yuan for members. Typically, membership stores require upfront fees before shopping. Regarding this shift, Costco told Economic Observer that by offering non-member access with a dual pricing system, more consumers can first experience products and services before deciding on membership. This "experience-recognition-card renewal" pathway protects member benefits while opening up a broader user base for the brand.
Second, it removes geographic limits. Costco said it has partnered with JD Logistics to deliver to over 2,800 districts and counties nationwide. JD.com noted that Costco deliveries now cover all of mainland China, with some cities achieving same-day delivery, and even remote areas like Xinjiang and Tibet are reachable. However, "nationwide coverage" still varies by speed. On July 29, a random Beijing address showed delivery by the next day if ordered before 11:10 PM, while addresses in Guiyang or Changsha displayed delivery by August 1. Costco's customer service explained that items ship from warehouses in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai, allocated by the nearest location, without warehouse selection options. Costco has no physical store in Beijing; its seven stores are mostly in the Yangtze River Delta, with only one in Shenzhen. JD.com's announcement stated that both parties will continue to expand product categories, deepen supply chain collaboration, develop customized products, and explore membership benefit sharing.
Why Now?
A notable detail in Costco's partnership with JD.com is that social media platforms like Xiaohongshu featured posts from users sharing photos of Costco Global CEO Ron Vachris touring stores in Shenzhen and Nanjing from late June to early July. This marks Vachris's first visit to China since becoming CEO in 2024. Behind this CEO visit lies fierce competition in China's retail sector, which is undergoing transformation with distinct业态 differentiation—warehouse clubs and discount stores are expanding rapidly, while traditional hypermarkets shrink. Product strategies have shifted from broad selections to curated focus, with private labels becoming competitive battlegrounds. Retail competition now centers on product strength and supply chain efficiency rather than just store count.
In May, Walmart CEO John Furner also visited China, followed by changes at Sam's Club China, including a new chairman and the resignation of its chief procurement officer. These executive visits highlight companies' close attention to the Chinese market. So why is Costco breaking the ice now? It relates to its development stage in China. Globally, Costco's performance remains solid. Its fiscal 2026 third-quarter report (February 16 to May 10) showed total revenue of $70.53 billion, up 12% year-over-year, and net profit of $2.19 billion, up 15%. As of May 10, 2026, Costco operated 928 warehouses globally, with only seven in mainland China. Looking at its China entry, Costco opened its first store in Shanghai in 2019, closing early on opening day due to overcrowding. In 2024, its Shenzhen Longhua store saw 140,000 membership cards snapped up, setting a global single-day record. Yet, this buzz contrasts with geographic limits—six of seven stores are in the Yangtze River Delta, with only one in Shenzhen. According to the China Chain Store & Franchise Association's 2026 Top 100 Supermarkets list, Costco China's 2025 sales reached 10 billion yuan, up 14.9% year-over-year. But compared to Sam's Club, the gap is significant: Sam's Club opened 10 new stores in 2025, totaling 63 stores, with omni-channel sales exceeding 140 billion yuan and over 10.7 million paid members.
The Shift
This disparity has driven Costco's breakthrough. With physical expansion unlikely to quickly close the gap with Sam's Club, the JD.com partnership is seen as a signal of Costco's shift from "slow, asset-heavy offline expansion" to "fast, asset-light online breakout." Ten years ago, Sam's Club's official flagship store first joined JD.com; now, Costco has entrusted JD.com as its sole official e-commerce partner. Regarding why it chose JD.com over self-built channels or other platforms, Costco noted that JD.com hosts a large base of rational, quality-conscious middle-class consumers, with over 30 million PLUS members whose traits align closely with Costco's core user profile. On physical expansion, industry media reported that last year Costco shared plans to add nine new stores in mainland China between fiscal 2026 and 2030—five in South China and four in East China—but this has not been confirmed by Costco.
Looking back, Costco's current path resembles Sam's Club's early trajectory in China. Sam's Club entered China in 1996 with its first store in Shenzhen, opening only 12 stores in its first 20 years, averaging less than one per year. Costco CFO Gary Millerchip, during the fiscal 2026 second-quarter earnings call, said about China: "We enter markets, open a few stores, learn the local culture and business model, then build on that for stable growth. We're satisfied with our current business and growth momentum. As in other international markets, we're confident in competing with any player in China. I'm optimistic about China's future, but our growth will follow our global pattern." Ron Vachris added during the fiscal 2026 third-quarter call: "In Asia, we know there's still huge opportunity in China, Korea, and Japan."
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