In China, Costco faces intense competition from online shopping platforms, such as Taobao and Pinduoduo, in a market where consumers are accustomed to online retail. It also faces competition from rival US brands like Sam’s Club, which is owned by Walmart. Sam’s Club has four branches in Shenzhen already.

When Costco opened its first store in Shanghai in 2019, it had to shut down early on its first day after it was overwhelmed by the number of shoppers.

Chaotic scenes saw people lining up for hours, crawling under the shop gates and wrestling for bags and rotisserie chickens. Traffic on surrounding roads came to a standstill, with vehicles clogging up the streets in line for the parking lot.

Since then, Costco has expanded in China but mostly near Shanghai, the country’s economic and financial hub, where there are two stores.