Costco annual revenue

As Costco's revenue has grown, the dog treat market has grown with near-perfect correspondence, a correlation of 0.990 that suggests the same households buying 48-packs of paper towels are also buying bulk bags of artisanal dog chews. This is probably literally true. Costco sells dog treats. The correlation contains its own explanation hidden in aisle 14.

Costco revenue grew from about 89 billion to over 242 billion between 2010 and 2022. Dog treat revenue grew from about 5 billion to over 11 billion. Both trends serve the same affluent household consumer: Costco's membership model selects for homeowners with space, disposable income, and the organizational commitment to buy in bulk. These same households are overwhelmingly likely to own dogs and to purchase premium treats. Costco itself is a significant dog treat retailer, making this correlation partly a supplier-customer relationship.

Thirteen years of Costco and dog treats is one of the more practically connected correlations on this site: the store that sells bulk everything also sells bulk dog treats, to the same household that owns the dog and the membership. The cart is full, the dog is fed, and the correlation is partly just a shopping list in disguise.