Costco International Expansion CPG Strategy 2026: How Brands Scale Beyond the U.S. Across 14 Countries

Most brands pursuing a Costco roadshow think of Costco as an American story. And it is — the United States remains by far the company's largest single market. But in 2026, the Costco story is increasingly and decisively becoming a global story.

Costco currently operates 933 warehouses across 14 countries: 641 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 115 in Canada, 43 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, 7 in China, 5 in Spain, 3 in France, 2 in Sweden, and 1 each in Iceland and New Zealand.

The financial performance of these international markets in 2026 is not just solid — it is in many cases outpacing the domestic business. During the first 18 weeks of fiscal 2026, while U.S. comparable sales grew 5.9 percent, Canada delivered 7 percent comparable sales growth and Other International markets produced a remarkable 9.5 percent comparable sales increase.

CEO Ron Vachris has stated Costco has a "very strong international expansion over the next five to 10 years" across Canada, China, Korea, Japan, France, Spain, and the UK. CFO Gary Millerchip described the long-range plan plainly: "We're expecting around half, maybe slightly over half, to be in the U.S., and then just around half to slightly under half to be in the rest of the markets."

For CPG brands that have built their Costco relationship domestically — through roadshows, regional authorizations, or national placement — the international Costco opportunity is the next growth chapter that the strongest brands are beginning to map. This guide provides the complete 2026 framework for CPG brands evaluating Costco international expansion: the market-by-market commercial profile, the buyer structure, the pathway from domestic to international, and the operational considerations that differ from the U.S. program.

The Commercial Case for International Costco: Why Now

The 9.5 percent comparable sales growth in Other International markets during the first 18 weeks of fiscal 2026 is a number that deserves specific attention from every CPG brand currently in the Costco ecosystem.

Comparable sales growth measures the performance of existing warehouses — the same-store revenue trajectory that communicates whether the business is compounding within its current footprint, not just opening new locations. A 9.5 percent comparable sales growth rate in international markets means existing Costco warehouses outside the United States are generating 9.5 percent more revenue per location than they did in the same period last year.

That is the velocity signal that matters for CPG brands evaluating where to grow.

The domestic U.S. Costco market — with 641 warehouses and a mature member penetration — is the largest and deepest market. It is also the most competitive for new brand authorizations, because the assortment positions are occupied by well-established brands and the velocity benchmarks for new authorizations are calibrated to a high-performing member base.

International Costco markets — particularly the growth markets in Asia-Pacific and the development markets in Europe — represent buyer teams that are actively seeking compelling products that meet the Costco value proposition for their specific member demographics. The Canadian buyer team, the Japanese buyer team, and the Korean buyer team each operate with a degree of autonomy and with a product development mandate that makes them genuinely receptive to the right brands with the right commercial profiles.

The CPG brand that has proven its commercial case in the United States — with roadshow velocity data, member satisfaction evidence, and operational compliance credentials — arrives at an international buyer conversation with something that a brand approaching Costco for the first time cannot bring: a documented track record in the most competitive Costco market in the world.

The Market-by-Market Profile: Where to Expand and Why

Canada — The First International Step for Most Brands

Canada is the natural first international step for U.S.-based CPG brands for four reasons that compound into a commercially compelling case.

Geographical and operational adjacency. The proximity of Canadian Costco depots to U.S. production facilities — and the relatively straightforward cross-border logistics for food-safe products with appropriate Canadian labeling — makes the operational complexity of the Canadian expansion significantly lower than any other international market.

Shared buying infrastructure with meaningful autonomy. The Canadian buyer team operates from Costco's Canadian headquarters in Ottawa, with buying decisions made independently from the U.S. buyer team but with significant awareness of U.S. performance data. A brand that has achieved strong U.S. roadshow or permanent placement velocity can present that data to the Canadian buyer as the most relevant available proxy for Canadian member appeal.

Bilingual packaging requirement. The most significant operational distinction between U.S. and Canadian Costco: Health Canada requires all consumer packaged goods sold in Canada to carry bilingual English and French labeling that meets specific Canadian label format requirements. This is the packaging investment that U.S. brands most commonly underestimate when evaluating Canadian expansion — and it is the hurdle that, once cleared, makes Canada straightforward and that, when not cleared, prevents authorization regardless of how strong the commercial case is.

Strong comparable sales growth. Canada's 7 percent comparable sales growth in the first 18 weeks of fiscal 2026 communicates a market that is compounding at a meaningfully higher rate than the mature U.S. market. For CPG brands, this growth trajectory translates into buyer teams with active authorization mandates and member bases that are actively discovering and adopting new products.

Japan — The Premium Quality Market

Japan's 37 warehouses represent Costco's largest international presence in Asia and one of the most commercially sophisticated Costco member populations in the world. Japanese Costco members — with their cultural emphasis on food quality, product authenticity, and category expertise — are among the most discerning in the global Costco ecosystem.

The Japanese Costco member's specific commercial profile: higher average basket size per visit than comparable U.S. members, stronger premium product orientation, and a specific enthusiasm for imported American and global food brands that carries cultural cachet in the Japanese consumer context. An American food brand that succeeds in the Japanese Costco market is operating in a consumer environment where the "imported from America" provenance is a quality signal rather than a neutral descriptor.

The operational complexity: Japanese labeling requirements, Japanese food safety standards, and the import and distribution logistics of the Japan market are significantly more complex than the Canadian equivalent. The brand evaluating Japan must either establish a Japanese import partner with existing Costco Japan logistics infrastructure or invest in the direct import capability that the Japan program requires.

Korea — The 9.5% Growth Market

Korea's 20 warehouses are performing at a rate that is contributing meaningfully to the 9.5 percent Other International comparable sales growth. The Korean Costco member — affluent, health-conscious, and deeply engaged with the premium international product categories that Costco curates — is one of the most commercially valuable international member populations in the ecosystem.

Korean Costco members have a specific and documented enthusiasm for imported American brands in the food, health, and beauty categories. The CPG brand in these categories that has established U.S. Costco credentials is entering the Korean conversation with a commercial pedigree that Korean buyers actively respect.

China — The Long-Term Growth Market

Costco plans to exceed 15 Chinese warehouses by end-2026 to capture rapid demand and urban household penetration. The 7 current warehouses in China — all in major urban centers including Shanghai and Suzhou — have generated the specific member excitement that has made Costco's China openings some of the most commercially dramatic warehouse launches in the company's history.

The China market is the most operationally complex international Costco destination for U.S. CPG brands — with import regulations, labeling requirements, food safety certification standards, and distribution logistics that require a specialized China market partner rather than direct brand management. The brand evaluating China should not approach it as an independent next step from U.S. operations but as a China-specific program requiring China-specific expertise.

Management sees meaningful opportunities across China, Korea, Japan, Spain, France and the United Kingdom, while Canada's development pipeline is already mapped out for several years.

United Kingdom and Europe — The Developing Markets

The UK's 29 warehouses represent Costco's most established European presence. Spain's 5 warehouses and France's 3 warehouses represent the early-stage European expansion that management's five-to-ten-year roadmap anticipates growing significantly.

The UK market's specific commercial opportunity for American CPG brands: British Costco members' enthusiasm for American food products — the specific cultural fascination with American snacks, condiments, and brands that drives significant Costco UK sales in the imported American food category — makes the UK a viable market for American CPG brands whose domestic product positioning does not require significant reformulation for the UK market.

The International Buyer Structure: How It Differs From the U.S.

Understanding the international Costco buyer structure is the foundational knowledge that determines how a CPG brand approaches an international program discussion.

Country-specific buyer teams with meaningful autonomy

Each Costco international market has its own buyer team that reports to the country's senior merchant leadership rather than to the U.S. buyer team at Issaquah. The Canadian buyer for a specific food category is a different person than the U.S. buyer for the same category. The Japanese buyer is a different person again. Their authorization decisions are made independently, within their own country's buying process, with their own velocity benchmarks and their own assortment management priorities.

This structure means that a U.S. authorization does not automatically transfer to Canada or Japan. The international market authorization is a separate buyer relationship, a separate submission process, and a separate commercial decision. The brand that assumes its U.S. Costco authorization means the Canadian buyer will follow suit has misunderstood the commercial architecture of the international markets.

The value of U.S. performance data in international conversations

While U.S. authorization does not automatically transfer, U.S. performance data is commercially relevant in international buyer conversations — as evidence of proven member appeal, operational reliability, and commercial viability that reduces the international buyer's risk assessment of the program.

An international buyer's evaluation of an unfamiliar U.S. brand is a risk assessment: "Will this product perform for our members?" U.S. roadshow velocity data, U.S. permanent placement sell-through data, and U.S. member review context provide the international buyer with the closest available proxy for their own market's likely performance — not a guarantee, but meaningful evidence that reduces the unknowns in their authorization decision.

The role of international distributors and import partners

For most international Costco markets beyond Canada, the brand's direct operational relationship with Costco's buyer team is complemented or replaced by a local importer or distributor who manages the regulatory compliance, import logistics, depot delivery, and in-market customer service that the brand cannot practically manage from U.S. operations.

The selection of the right import partner — one with existing Costco relationships in the target market, with demonstrated operational reliability, and with the regulatory expertise that the specific country's food safety and labeling requirements demand — is one of the most commercially significant decisions in the international expansion planning process.

A strong import partner with an existing Costco relationship in Japan or Korea can shorten the pathway from initial buyer conversation to first purchase order significantly — because the buyer team already trusts the importer's operational capability and the brand inherits that trust.

The Pathway From Domestic to International: The Sequential Strategy

The sequential pathway that most successfully enables international Costco expansion begins with domestic proof-of-concept and builds systematically toward international programs.

Stage 1: U.S. roadshow velocity credentialing

Before any international buyer conversation is possible, the brand must have U.S. roadshow or permanent placement data that can be presented as commercial evidence. The brand with two to four U.S. roadshow events, documented velocity above the buyer's benchmark, and a positive operational compliance track record has the commercial foundation for an international conversation.

Stage 2: Canadian program as the international pilot

Canada is the appropriate first international program for most U.S.-based brands because of the operational adjacency, the bilingual packaging investment being the primary hurdle, and the Canadian buyer's receptivity to U.S. performance data as evidence of member appeal.

The Canadian program — even a regional roadshow pilot — serves two commercial purposes simultaneously: it generates Canadian market revenue and member data, and it creates the international proof-of-concept that makes subsequent conversations with Japanese, Korean, and UK buyers more commercially credible.

Stage 3: Asia-Pacific evaluation based on Canadian and U.S. combined data

With U.S. and Canadian performance data both available, the Asia-Pacific market evaluation becomes the next logical phase. Japan, Korea, and Australia represent the three Asia-Pacific markets with sufficient warehouse density to support a meaningful CPG program — and with buyer teams that are actively developing their product assortments.

The Asia-Pacific evaluation should involve direct conversations with the country-specific buyer teams, not assumptions about market appeal based on U.S. data alone. The cultural and dietary preferences of Japanese, Korean, and Australian Costco members differ meaningfully from U.S. members, and product positioning, formulation, and packaging may require market-specific adaptation.

Stage 4: Europe as the long-term growth horizon

The European Costco markets — UK, Spain, France — represent the longer-term growth horizon that the CEO's five-to-ten-year international expansion roadmap anticipates developing significantly. For most CPG brands, European Costco expansion is a Stage 4 opportunity — appropriate after domestic and initial international programs have established the commercial infrastructure, the import partner network, and the operational scale that the European market requires.

The Operational Considerations That Differ Internationally

Country-specific labeling requirements

Every Costco international market has its own consumer product labeling requirements — bilingual English/French in Canada, Japanese language requirements in Japan, Korean language requirements in Korea, EU-standard labeling in the UK and European markets.

These labeling requirements are not optional compliance choices. They are regulatory mandates that determine whether the product can legally be sold in the market. The brand that has not invested in market-specific packaging before its first purchase order arrives in an international market discovers at the worst possible commercial moment that its packaging is not compliant.

Import logistics and depot delivery

The logistics of delivering product to international Costco depots — Canadian depots, Japanese depots, Korean depots — differ from U.S. domestic delivery in specific and practically significant ways. The import documentation, the customs clearance process, the currency of payment, and the country-specific depot scheduling and delivery requirements all require market-specific operational competency that U.S.-only brands do not have by default.

Food safety certification for international markets

While the U.S. GFSI certification (IFS, BRCGS, FSSC 22000, or SQF) provides a recognized food safety foundation that international Costco markets respect, some international markets have additional country-specific requirements — Japan's JFS-A/B/C standard being one example — that the brand must address in its international expansion planning.

Currency, pricing, and margin management

The Costco P&L for an international market must be modeled in the local currency, with the import duty, freight, and logistics costs that the international supply chain adds to the cost of goods before the landed cost at the Costco depot is established. The margin percentage that Costco requires in the international market may differ from the U.S. standard — and the brand's P&L must model the international program's economics specifically rather than extending the U.S. cost structure into a different currency and logistics environment.

At Fractional Brand Managers, we guide CPG brands through the complete international Costco expansion process — from the initial market evaluation and buyer introduction through the import partner selection, the country-specific packaging compliance, and the operational setup that enables a commercially successful international program.

Contact us at 732-433-7873 or info@fractionalbrandmanagers.com.

Costco International Markets 2026 — CPG Brand Priority Framework:

Market	Warehouses	2026 Comp Growth	CPG Complexity	Priority for U.S. Brands
Canada	115	7.0%	Low-moderate (bilingual packaging)	First international step
UK	29	Part of 9.5% intl	Moderate (EU labeling, import)	Second step for food/beauty brands
Japan	37	Part of 9.5% intl	High (Japanese regs, import partner)	Stage 3 with right import partner
Korea	20	Part of 9.5% intl	High (Korean regs, import partner)	Stage 3 — high premium brand appetite
Australia	15	Part of 9.5% intl	Moderate (English market, import)	Stage 3 — English-language advantage
Taiwan	14	Part of 9.5% intl	High (import partner required)	Stage 3-4
China	7	High growth	Very high (China-specific expertise required)	Stage 4 — requires dedicated China partner
Mexico	43	—	Moderate (Spanish labeling, NAFTA logistics)	Stage 2-3 for some categories
Spain/France	8	—	High (EU standards, import)	Long-term horizon (Stage 4)

The sequential pathway:U.S. roadshow credentialing → Canada pilot → Asia-Pacific evaluation → Europe long-term

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