(Reuters) – Costco Wholesale Corp reported a 9.6% jump in March comparable sales, as customers stocked up on essentials to weather coronavirus-led lockdowns.
U.S. comparable sales rose 10.7% for five weeks ended April 5, while e-commerce sales surged 48.3%, Costco said in a statement.
The company said last month that it was seeing a big jump in sales due to the coronavirus crisis and was forced to place quantity limits on some products including bleach, bottled water and dry grocery items.
Costco, which currently operates 787 warehouses including 547 in the United States and Puerto Rico, also reported a 11.7% jump in March sales to $15.49 billion, compared with a year earlier.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
