Costco to hike membership fees in May
Published: 03 Feb. 2025, 17:22
-
- KIM JU-YEON
- [email protected]
![A shopper stands in front of a Costco Wholesale store in Seoul on Feb. 3. The warehouse club retailer will raise the prices of its yearly membership subscriptions in Korea on May 1. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/03/99300001-3848-409f-b8e8-8a842ccde09f.jpg)
A shopper stands in front of a Costco Wholesale store in Seoul on Feb. 3. The warehouse club retailer will raise the prices of its yearly membership subscriptions in Korea on May 1. [NEWS1]
Costco Wholesale will raise its annual membership fees for consumers in Korea by up to 15 percent starting in May.
The world's third-largest retailer will hike the price of a basic Gold Star membership 4,500 won ($3), or 11.7 percent, from 38,500 won to 43,000 won, starting on May 1. The rates for Business and Executive membership will rise by 15.2 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively, Costco announced Monday on its Korean website.
For Executive Members, the added price comes with a perk: Their cap on the store's 2 percent cashback rewards program will increase to 1.2 million won from the current 1 million won.
Continuing members whose yearly subscription ends after May 1 will have to pay the new price upon renewal.
The Korean price hike follows a similar raise for shoppers at Costco’s U.S. and Canadian stores last September, which was the first the warehouse club giant had enacted in seven years. The company increased the price of its basic membership by 8.3 percent, from $60 to $65 per year.
The Issaquah, Washington-based retailer has full ownership of its Korean operations. It operated 19 stores in Korea as of November 2024. Costco recorded 6.53 trillion won in sales in the country from September 2023 through August 2024, an on-year increase of 7.6 percent.
BY KIM JU-YEON [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)