Costco, Makro or Bookers - From experience?

[daiso]

Hey all,

I know, this is a tricky one.

Which of Costco, Makro or Bookers is better? Of course, first in terms of savings. But also, in terms of quality.

Any experience to share?

Thanks,

D

 

[bestforsextoys]

Hello

We use makro and we get good quility from them but we are going to be opeing an account with costco but they charge something like £12 something a year i think it may be £27 but not sure check that out but i have been told that costco stock more.

Thanks
Austin

 

[Em Shepherd]

We use Costco, and have done for years. We got membership with them int he first instance because they were the only ones near us, but we now live near a Macro too, and still prefer Costco. It is good quality, altough stock rotates reasonably quickly, so if you see something you want, you need to get it. (Some things they stock year round). Staff are always really helpful too, very friendly, I always think that makes a difference.

Something else they do is business of the month (2 of) I don't know about Macro. They come out take some details and photos and then put up a display in the store fora whole month for other patrons to see...and all for free. You just tel them at reception you want to do it! Brilliant

 

[mistershifter]

It depends what trade you are? catering or retail?
I was in retail but found makro to be semi useless most of the time. Stock availability was always the issue along with pricing eg. pricemarked packs of butter flashed at 79p costing 77p obviously gearing towards the general public. I could go on and on here but won't to spare bandwidth.

I would suggest cherry pick from them all. I went from a weekly spend of £3k at makro to about £500 if they were lucky due to sheer tomfoolery with stock availability on their part. They very often had it in stock but couldn't find it.
Obviously different stores will be different but pricing will be national I guess.

hth
Kev

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

They may have good deals ocassionally on special offers/promotions, but when I visited our nearest Costco and Makro, I found many of the goods I was interested in (electrical) were no cheaper than local supermarkets/sheds, and certainly all could be bought cheaper from on line suppliers. In my case, if I add to this the cost in time and money of going to pick them up, they would have worked out quite expensive.

Barrie

 

[letterboxunlimited]

Makro has become a lot more user friendly and i have found the service has improved dramatically for real trade customers over the last year. i have a gold card , get better pricing than the shelf, a yearly kick back and this week i got a £50 shopping voucher.

Costco has nice cakes and meat but is not really competitive on most lines. The on thing the do offer great pricing on is soft drinks but thats about it for me.

One thing that drives me nuts in any cash and carry is the "happy shoppers" who have one card and three friends who all want to pay separately for about £10 worth of stuff. i often think a trip to asda would be a better idea for these people!

 

[skyhi2]

@ em shepherd,the business of the month is a great way to promote your business for a month,although it`s not quite free.There is a £15 charge,which goes to a local charity ( i will be in mine in December
Costco have great deals on electricals,and a 3 year guarantee is pretty much standard these days.
Stopped using Makro,as i got fed up queueing behind 30 people with 1 item ( might have changed by now

Skyhi2.

 

[Sherlock Homeless]

Costco - Worth it for the specials, really it's just a day out shopping for bored housewives who can play at being shopkeeper.

Makro - Much the same apart from the housewives have screaming children in tow.

Booker - The bread and butter of most retailers, average at best but quite good at it.

The best solution? A dedicated wholesaler that ships to your door from an electronic/hard catalog with net or phone ordering, won't mention any names as this is a field that I'm about to branch into but this saves you overall on costs (both to your business and initial buy in), cashflow, stock control and time.