10 Essential Facts About Costco Direct

Warehouse club models are nothing new for American shoppers, but that doesn’t mean they lack panache. Since its official open in the early 1980s, Costco has become a major competitor in the big-box retail landscape and helped revolutionize the modern-day warehouse club model. Now, the popular storefront brand has rolled out an additional benefit for members to save dollars: Costco Direct. As a fully online counterpart to existing perks, Costco Direct is the next evolution in the franchise’s offerings to long-term shoppers.

Based on purchased, tiered memberships, Costco offers large quantities of high-quality products at overall discounted rates. Streamlined operations, bulk purchasing, and minimal store expenses optimize price efficiencies and allow purchasers to spend less while taking home more. Since a significant portion of its revenue comes through paid memberships, Costco can consistently provide discounted access to every-day and specialized products that are regularly pricier at other stores.

On top of lower fuel costs, travel savings, and prescription discounts, Costco members will now be able to mix and match much larger single and bulk products through Costco Direct for astronomical year-long savings. For fans of the brand, here are 10 must-know facts about taking advantage of this new Costco benefit to its fullest.

Unlike physical perks associated with Costco’s traditional and Business Centers, Costco Direct is an online-only program geared towards saving shoppers’ money by making a single purchase on more than one eligible item. Not only are there bundle and save promotions, but Costco members can stack certain discounts — like an executive membership perk of earning 2% rewards on all purchases — on top of ones exclusively available through Costco Direct. While over 1,200 products are marked eligible for Costco Direct savings, the best bang for your buck is likely to be felt when buying appliances, televisions, furniture, home upgrades, mattresses, patios, and fitness items.

Costco Direct offers an immediate win for the average consumer with its many endless product combinations that, when lumped into a single transaction, can add up to some impressive savings. Being able to select a dresser along with a new kitchen table lets you get creative and more cost-efficient with structuring purchases in a way that springing for a matching bedroom set from another retailer just might not be. Once purchased, most items are delivered within three to five days, a timeframe well within the typical window expectation held by most shoppers. An ever-circulating array of additional deals, packages, and promotions means that you’re likely to see even better deals on other items down the road.

Like its membership programs, Costco Direct increases the dollar amount customers can save based on the number of eligible items they purchase. This capability holds true for large household purchases and bulk food storage alike. For example, buying two eligible items saves $100 total, while buying up to five eligible items saves $400. Not all purchases are applicable for bundle discounts, though. Savings only apply if all items are bought within a single transaction, which can make splitting costs between different cards or more than one buyer potentially frustrating. Similarly, all eligible items must be shipped to the same physical address. A program to stock up on an extended family or friend group’s expensive purchases, this is not.

Customers’ opportunities to save on bundled items in particular are amplified by understanding how another program — Costco Next — works. By partnering with premium brand manufacturers (think Eddie Bauer, Jay Franco, and Harley-Davidson, among others), Costco Next brings expanded inventory selections at special discounted prices to its members. Combined with Costco Direct’s benefits, shoppers can effectively double-dip into manufacturer and warehouse savings in a way that simply doesn’t exist at competitor outlets.

One major selling point of Costco Direct is its streamlined shopping experience for big-ticket items. For furniture, appliances, and other heavy bulk items, Costco Direct intentionally displays more transparent and inclusive prices for consumers. Costco ensures that guests will know up-front how much custom delivery, in-home installation, and product registration is without getting another quote. This rather refreshing glimpse into a product’s true cost eliminates much of the stress that typically goes into the purchase of large and expensive items. Shoppers can feel more confident about managing their budget, even within a premium service program.

Removing the negative associations that inevitably come with hidden or undisclosed fees decreases feelings of uncertainty or buyer’s remorse. Particularly in the case of high-cost appliances or furniture sets, this brand promise indicates a commitment — at least, on some level — to customer satisfaction and financial clarity.

To streamline the ease of buying through Costco Direct, shoppers can identify eligible items through the recognizable “Costco Direct” label affixed to various online products. Taken together with other Costco tags, online browsers can easily tell at a glance which items have existing promotions, can be bundled with other products, or are privy to special discounts. Since Costco Direct purchases are subject to two redemptions of the benefit per membership, these labels also help buyers make educated choices about the items they want to include in these particular eligible transactions to best utilize them.

Filtering digital search results by Costco Direct tags are also helpful in telling the difference between limited-time-only offerings and ongoing bundles that are more or less available at many times of the year. Costco’s structured product listing pages also break down how various discounts impact the final price of an item. With the possible exception of contacting a Costco representative directly, these tags provide an up-to-date lens into the absolute best ways to purchase desired items online for the lowest listed price available.

Customers that buy through Costco Direct can track the shipment of their purchases directly from distribution centers. This capability is actually a valuable boon, as customers don’t need to worry about picking up items themselves or waiting weeks on end for a product that’s only available in a far-off Costco warehouse.

The ability in real-time to order items through Costco and have them fulfilled by a distribution center broadens consumers’ access to a wider and more convenient range of products. Costco Direct operates effectively on this distribution center model by pooling inventory across multiple locations. This network ensures that Costco-bought products have consistent availability regardless of where a customer is purchasing from. Items can be fulfilled more efficiently, and high-demand products remain available for purchase longer than other retailers. Buyers are also not necessarily limited to what’s in stock at their local Costco center.

In general, having a diverse range of products and brands to select from is a value-add to customers. After all, there are many features, capabilities, colors, and styles out there on the market for even the most expensive appliances and furniture. In fact, stock limitations are known to turn off buyers who might not be satisfied with the listed items on display. Not only does the addition of more inventory options better personalize shopping experiences, it also maximizes the ability to mix and match between various big-ticket items.

What does this all mean for you? Even if you aren’t in love with the ottoman you initially see displayed in the store or on the website, Costco Direct heightens the chances that you’ll be able to find one you DO adore. Costco Direct’s ability to funnel shoppers back into its network of different distributors means that you don’t have to worry about ordering multiple items from more than one place, either. Instead, Costco’s commitment to a more diversified inventory is a win-win for the brand and, most importantly, its customer base.

Whether you want to believe it or not, most consumers thrive off the thrill of a “deal.” In fact, studies have shown that deals and promotions can directly motivate two-thirds of shoppers to buy when they weren’t planning to originally. For better or worse, Costco is known for offering solid savings on everything from an outdoor chair to toilet paper. The introduction of Costco Direct is yet another way shoppers can save and get access to deals they wouldn’t normally even know about.

Costco Direct provides members with exclusive online deals that frequently surpass those available in-store. By using Costco’s website or mobile app, buyers can take advantage of specialized website programs pertaining to dozens of products, including electronics, appliances, and home essentials.

Taken with the Costco Next program, members can benefit from bundling items together while also saving money by purchasing directly from trusted suppliers. These programs reward loyal consumers who continue to renew their Costco memberships year after year. Having consistent access to deals across the Costco ecosystem allows shoppers to purchase expensive products outside the typical “sales” seasons (i.e., Black Friday, Memorial Day).

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery of large and bulky items was pretty limited for the average consumer. At that point, serious weaknesses in centralized warehouse inventory systems became abundantly clear when common household items like toilet paper became stressfully hard to find in retail stores. Compounding the problem for giants like Costco, as an example, was the unavailability of curbside pickup. Short of entering the warehouse yourself to take your items home, you were out of luck.

The refinement of many ecommerce processes over 2020 and 2021 began to offer better tracking, updates, and transparent communication for all shipped items. A particular emphasis on oversized items — home gym equipment one of the more visible winners — increased market urgency in being able to deliver such products to customers in as easy and timeliness a manner as smaller counterparts.

In the case of Costco, the ability to ship large products or bundled goods from distribution centers to customers’ addresses is faster and more convenient than ever before. The addition of Costco Direct makes the purchasing of items more typically seen in a furniture center relatively painless. Direct-to-home shipping also allows Costco Direct to send bulky items straight to your front door, which is itself a fulfillment of what 21st-century shoppers increasingly expect. The days of messily coordinating delivery trucks are over; there are services for that now, with big-brand names like Costco leading the charge.

For a retail giant like Costco, it’s moderately surprising that the Direct service doesn’t enable customers to place grocery orders alongside big-ticket items. After all, the shifts in consumer behavior since 2020 indicate that the average shopper is attracted to storefronts that provide a high level of convenience and flexibility in purchasing what they need and want. In this respect, Costco Direct does not allow consumers to make a grocery delivery purchase alongside a larger-ticket one. However, Costco offers several delivery options through partners like Uber Eats and Instacart, including same-day and free delivery for qualifying amounts. Not only are smaller grocery orders fulfilled by third-parties, but more custom and complex delivery arrangements might be necessary for bigger items, which makes sense that Costco might hedge its bets a bit on that front.

The alluring combination of delivering large furniture or appliances alongside smaller, everyday household needs lives on, though, and might very well gain traction in Costco’s future. At the moment, Costco Direct prioritizes shipping for oversized items, but increased bundling — perhaps under the guise of limited-time packages or freebies — does not seem out of the question for the retail giant going forward.

As with most benefits at Costco, Costco Direct is only available to existing or new members with a Gold Star pass. From there, each account has a maximum of two direct redemptions. This limited amount of Costco Direct pricing saves is a definite bummer for households looking to potentially fulfill more than a handful of major renovation or decor projects within a year. However, some strategic forethought can help members best optimize their savings while still taking advantage of the many other benefits lumped into a Costco membership.

Regardless of where you’re physically at for any given point, having a general understanding of what Costco memberships provide you allows you to make intentional purchasing choices for both small and large bills. Costco Direct is yet one more tool in the proverbial belt of price checking, bundling, and online shopping features that make annual memberships for these types of warehoused outlets well worth their entry fees.