It Appears That Costco’s Membership Scanners Are Working
We recently told you about Costco rolling out membership card scanners at it's store entrances in an effort to crack down on shared memberships. Well according to some Wall Street analysts the move seems to be working, and some are even calling it Costco's Netflix moment. So how do they know that it's working? Here's what we know so far.
Fox 9 in the Twin Cities had an article about the membership scanners and how the new rollout is going. This is what Fox 9 wrote in just the second paragraph.
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note this week that Costco warehouses are seeing as much as low double-digit increases in membership counts after implementing the scanners, and suggested the high conversion rates of previously non-paying customers could lead to the retailer's "Netflix moment."
Morgan Stanley's analysts went on to write, "Our base scenario suggests Costco could capture an additional 4 million members through conversion of nonfee-paying customers in North America."
The membership card scanners are being rolled out nationwide in an effort to crack down on membership sharing. Costco does allow one household to have a single membership, but only two adults over the age of 18 that live there can have a card.
Costco has defended the membership scanners as a tool for real time store traffic allowing store staff to adjust staffing, as well as alert customers when their memberships are coming due.
It will be interesting to see if Costco continues to see growth in memberships or if this is just members getting caught using someone elses card.
What do you think about the membership card scanners?
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