Costco got off to a excellent commence this holiday shopping period as the retailer racked up increased sales ahead of Black Friday and the official commence of consumers’ seasonal buying.

The members-only warehouse business also got a boost in turnover from higher membership fees, which it began charging in September – its first hike in membership fees in seven years.

Costco reported net sales of $61 billion, up 7.5% for the first quarter of the business’s 2025 budgetary year, compared to $56.7 billion a year ago, the business said Thursday. The three-month period ended Nov. 24, a week before Black Friday.

“Seasonal sell-through appears to be very powerful,” said Gary Millerchip, Costco’s chief budgetary officer and executive vice president, during a call with property analysts Thursday. “People are very basic buying this year, but excellent trends.”

turnover from membership fees rose 7.6%, bookkeeping for $1.17 billion, up from $1.08 billion a year ago, the business said.

Holiday deals: Shop this period’s top products and sales curated by our editors.

The worth of an annual Costco membership rose from $60 to $65 for United States and Canada Gold Star memberships and executive memberships increased from $120 to $130, with the maximum annual 2% reward associated with the executive membership increasing from $1,000 to $1,250.

Costco reported turnover of $62.15 billion, up 7.5%, from a year ago. That’s higher than the $61.9 billion estimated from Wall Street analysts polled by S&P Global economy Intelligence.

Membership fees brought in $4.8 billion in the previous budgetary year, which ended Sept. 1, 2024, and $1.5 billion for the previous three months, the business reported in September.

The business said it now had 77.4 million paid memberships, an boost of 7.6%. Nearly half (47%) were executive memberships.

More shoppers came to Costco

Costco, which sells products in bulk packages and has discounts on food including eggs for as low as $3, continued to view sales growth as consumers still remain concerned about prices.

With a shortened holiday shopping period, Costco joined other retailers in running pre-Black Friday sales in early November. Store traffic rose 5.1% during the period, while comparable tickets (person customer sales totals) were up 0.1%, the business said.

“As consumers across returns levels continue to prioritize worth, Costco is benefiting from robust membership growth and is generating additional turnover from the recent membership fee boost,” said Sky Canaves, loan amount analyst for retail and ecommerce at eMarketer, told USA TODAY.

“Among the major US retailers we track, Costco is one of the few that can boast of meaningful above-average ecommerce growth in 2024,” Canaves said. “It’s starting from a tiny base and still has a long runway to expand its online business with additional turnover opportunities coming from the marketplace and retail media network.”

Costco exec: Sale of gold bars, precious metals drives traffic

Costco reported a 13% boost in ecommerce sales during the quarter, with top ecommerce sales categories including gift cards, hardware, home furnishing, health and beauty aids, sporting goods, and gold and jewelry. The business has had achievement selling gold bars, silver coins and, most recently, platinum bars.

Costco members can leave to the website to purchase gold bars (currently priced at $2,749.99), platinum bars ($1,049.99), and silver coins ($649.99).

Having precious metals has driven “significant traffic” to the business’s website, and “it’s driving our ability to develop our digital business overall,” Millerchip said.

In the previous quarter, Costco saw sales boost, but not as high as Wall Street had expected, suggesting consumers were spending with trepidation.

The business’s shares, which are up 51% so far this year, rose nearly 1% in extended market activity.

Contributing: Reuters

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