Costco is offering a rare limited-time membership deal for new members — key details inside
Costco attracts customers willing to pay for memberships thanks to great offers on its products, such as the $1.50 hot dog and soda combo and the $4.99 rotisserie chicken. However, the one thing that the retailer hardly ever offers any discount on is its membership plans. It is no secret that the retailer’s biggest chunk of revenue comes from its memberships, and discounting that price makes no sense. However, in a rare move, Costco has introduced an offer for people to sign up as new members in the last few days of the year.
A lot of people refrain from applying to Costco’s membership plans as they are quite pricey. The Gold Star membership costs $65 per year, while the Executive membership costs $130. The retailer wants as many people as possible to sign up as members, and to that end, it is offering a gift card with a 12-month membership plan for new members. It has teamed up with Groupon to run the promotion.
“Become a new Costco member, unlock exclusive savings on groceries, electronics, gas, and more — and get rewarded with a $40 or $60 Digital Costco Shop Card to spend online or in-store,” Groupon shared on its website as per a report in The Street. However, there are some conditions to this plan. “Valid only for new members and those whose previous memberships (Primary and Affiliate) have expired for at least 18 months or more. Not valid for renewal or upgrade of an existing membership,” it said.
Those who want to take advantage of this promotion need to be quick, as the offer expires at midnight on December 31. New members will receive a $40 gift card with a Gold Star membership and a $60 Digital Costco Shop Card when they pay for an Executive membership. These coupons can be used for in-store purchases and online shopping as well.
Costco’s dependence on its membership plans for revenue and profit generation was made clear by CFO Gary Millerchip in a recent first-quarter 2026 earnings call. He said that the revenue brought in by these memberships was well over a billion dollars. “We reported membership fee income of $1.329 billion, an increase of $163 million or 14% year over year,” he added.
“Adjusting for FX, the increase was also 14%. Last September’s U.S. and Canada membership fee increase accounted for a little less than half of membership income growth,” Millerchip explained, before mentioning, “Excluding the membership fee increase and FX, membership income grew 7.3% year over year. This was driven by continued growth in our membership base and increased upgrades from Gold Star to Executive membership.”
However, in terms of renewal rates, the U.S. and Canada renewal rate was 92.2%, and the worldwide rate came in at 89.7%, both down 10 basis points from last quarter. “This slight decline was due to the factors we discussed last quarter and reflects new online members growing as a percentage of our total base, renewing at a slightly lower rate than warehouse sign-ups. The decline was less than anticipated due to some early success with targeted communications to expiring members,” Millerchip added.
More on Market Realist:
Costco makes it easier for members to access its stores with its latest move
Costco is making a major change to its checkout lanes — and it could impact many members
Costco’s meat is getting returned more often than people realize — Reddit users have thoughts
