Sam’s Club is an American membership-only warehouse club that figures as one of the best retail stores in the United States. Its services have satisfied all the public’s needs for years, although it’s not the only store offering basic products for both businesses and families. Being the best retail store in the US does Sam’s Club have competitors?
Many stores compete with Sam’s Club, and not all of them follow the same business model that Sam’s Club does, for example, retail stores like Lowe’s, Target, and more. Find all about them and how they stand a fight against Sam’s Club in here! So, let’s take a look into Sam’s Club competitors.
Sam’s Club Overview
Knowing firsthand the struggles of running a small business, Sam Walton founded Sam’s Club in 1983 to provide small entrepreneurs with the services and products they needed to succeed. With this purpose in mind, the membership warehouse club was born and ended up selling not only to small businesses and entrepreneurs but also to families. Now the physical store and e-commerce website are available in the United States (with 600 locations), Puerto Rico, Brazil, Mexico, and China.
The store manages to keep relatively low prices by keeping the store decor simple and even displaying merchandise on shipping pallets, which allow the products to move around easily.
Among Sam’s Club benefits you can find:
- Free shipping for most items.
- Savings on medications along with a pharmacy.
- Sam’s Club credit.
- Access to optical and photo center.
- Auto services (like a tire and battery center).
- Travel services
- Savings on different types of entertainment (movies, events, and getaways).
- Home services (like water delivery).
- Food court in-store.
- Club services (curbside pick-up, scan & go, same-day grocery delivery).
Costco
Costco Wholesale Corporation may be the main competitor of Sam’s Club. Both membership-only warehouse clubs offer men’s and women’s clothing, groceries, electronics, home goods, and office supplies. However, Costco has a larger international presence since, in 2021, it had more than 8,000 stores in twelve countries. Also, by 2022, it plans on entering New Zealand and Sweden’s market.
Costco sells many brands and a variety of products, but it also sells its private label: Kirkland Signature, which represents almost a third of the store’s sales.
Some of Costco’s services are pretty identical to those provided by Sam’s Club, like auto services, photo, and optical centers, a travel company, and a food court. An interesting addition to its services is the Costco Audiobook App, launched in both iOs and Android, to listen to exclusive audiobooks sold by Costco.
BJ’s Wholesale Club
The third main competitor of Sam’s Club is BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. It follows the same business model as the prior two stores, but it’s significantly smaller than them, having only 216 stores in 2020.
Like Costco, BJ’s Wholesale Club has private labels like Berkeley-Jensen and Wellsley Farms.
Although the store doesn’t provide as many types of products as Sam’s Club, it’s a little cheaper than the latter and you can still find a fine assortment of items in it.
Warehouse’s Clubs Membership’s Price
- Sam’s Club offers two kinds of membership: The Sam’s Club membership ($45/year) and the Sam’s Club Premium membership ($100/year).
- BJ’s Wholesale Club also has two types of membership: BJ’s Perk Rewards ($110/year) and the Inner Circle membership ($55/year). These prices correspond to 2021.
- Costco offers a personal and business membership. Additionally, both of them accept two different kinds of members.
- Personal Membership: Executive ($120/year) and Gold Star ($60/year).
- Business Membership: Business Executive ($120/year) and Business ($60/year).
Target
What makes Target a worthy opponent of Sam’s Club is its large selection of items, that goes from clothing, home goods, electronics, furniture, toys, office, garden, and lawn supplies. In matters of locations, Target takes the lead with 1,926 stores in the country as of 2021.
An important advantage of Target is that everyone can shop at it, with no need for a membership. And the store also has a very popular branding and marketing strategy, including a beloved mascot, which promotes that more people feel appeal to Target’s brand.
Aldi
The German family-owned supermarket chain might be a more worthy rival to WholeFoods, however, it threatens Sam’s Club to take away from its customers, as Aldi offers almost the same types of products for very low prices.
Aldi’s approach to saving costs by keeping store decor simple, no-frills, is similar to Sam’s Club, however, the main difference between Aldi and Sam’s Club is that the latter offers great deals for businesses, while Aldi continues to meet only family and personal needs.
Other Special Product-Category Competitors
When speaking of stores that can defeat Sam’s Club services but only on special product categories, we must consider:
- Office Depot – The king when it comes to office and school supplies. It also offers a great and specialized assortment of electronics like tablets, computers, printers, along with expert support.
- Radio Shack – Disregarding the decrease of Radio Shack stores in the country, it still manages to offer high-quality electronic products and has many loyal customers keeping the brand’s profit admirable.
- Lowe’s – It specializes in home improvement items, offering more trustful advice when it comes to tools, garden supplies, paint, and lighting fixtures. That’s why Lowe’s might be a hard-to-beat rival for Sam’ Club, at least in this product area.
Conclusion
Although it has more competitors, the most prominent rival of Sam’s Club is Costco, closely followed by BJ’s Wholesale Club since the three of them are membership-only warehouse clubs and offer almost identical products and prices. Nevertheless, there are other retail stores whose branding’s appeal is threatening Sam’s Club, like Target and Aldi. Likewise, in the case of particular product categories, Lowe’s, Office Depot, and Radio Shack compete in sales with Sam’s Club.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sam’s Club cheaper than Costco?
The average costs suggest that Costco is a bit cheaper than Sam’s Club.
What is curbside pick-up?
A type of service that consists of customers ordering items online and going to the stores for pick-up with no need of leaving the vehicle, since an employee takes the order straight to the car.
