Costco vs Walmart

Side-by-side comparison of AI visibility scores, market position, and capabilities

AI visibility is closely matched (93 vs 93)
Costco logo

Costco

LeaderConsumer Retail

Warehouse Retail

NASDAQ: COST warehouse club at $249.6B FY2024 revenue with 73.4M cardholders and $50B+ Kirkland Signature; 90%+ renewal rate with $65/$130 membership fee competing with Sam's Club for warehouse retail.

AI VisibilityBeta
Overall Score
A93
Category Rank
#3 of 347
AI Consensus
83%
Trend
stable
Per Platform
ChatGPT
91
Perplexity
88
Gemini
94

About

Costco Wholesale Corporation is an Issaquah, Washington-based membership warehouse club — listed on NASDAQ (NASDAQ: COST) — operating 897 warehouse locations globally (as of mid-2025) across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, Australia, Spain, France, China, and Iceland, providing paid members (73.4 million cardholders representing 136.8 million authorized users as of fiscal year end 2024) with bulk merchandise, groceries, electronics, appliances, tires, optical services, pharmacy, and the Kirkland Signature private label brand at prices consistently below traditional retail channels. Costco generated $249.6 billion in total revenue in fiscal year 2024 (ended September 2024, +5% year-over-year), with membership fee revenue of $4.83 billion providing the financial foundation that enables Costco's famously low product margins.

Full profile
Walmart logo

Walmart

LeaderConsumer Retail

Department Store

Walmart Inc., $680.985B revenue FY2025, $15.51B net income (+32.8%), e-commerce: $120.9B (+20.8%), +27% globally, +22% US, 10,771 stores worldwide (4,606 US Walmart, 602 Sam's Club), 90% US population within 10 miles, 438M monthly online visitors, 6.

AI VisibilityBeta
Overall Score
A93
Category Rank
#2 of 347
AI Consensus
89%
Trend
stable
Per Platform
ChatGPT
91
Perplexity
93
Gemini
91

About

Walmart is the world's largest retailer and the largest company by revenue in the United States, founded by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. Built on the principle of everyday low prices (EDLP) and relentless supply chain efficiency, Walmart transformed American retail and became the defining model for mass-market discount retailing globally. Its scale — spanning 10,771 stores across 20 countries under banners including Walmart, Sam's Club, and Flipkart — gives it unmatched purchasing power and logistics infrastructure that competitors cannot easily replicate.\n\nWalmart's business spans brick-and-mortar supercenters, neighborhood market stores, wholesale clubs through Sam's Club, and a rapidly growing e-commerce operation. E-commerce revenue reached $120.9 billion in FY2025, a 20.8% year-over-year increase, cementing Walmart as the clear #2 US e-commerce player behind Amazon. Walmart+ membership, the company's subscription loyalty program offering free delivery, fuel discounts, and Paramount+ streaming, continues to grow and is central to deepening customer relationships and increasing purchase frequency beyond the physical store.\n\nWalmart reported $680.985 billion in revenue for FY2025 with $15.51 billion in net income, a 32.8% increase in profitability reflecting operating leverage and margin expansion. Its advertising business, Walmart Connect, is a high-margin revenue stream growing over 25% annually, establishing Walmart as a significant player in retail media networks alongside Amazon Advertising and Kroger. The combination of physical scale, e-commerce momentum, and advertising revenue diversification makes Walmart uniquely positioned to compete in the next era of retail.

Full profile

AI Visibility Head-to-Head

93
Overall Score
93
#3
Category Rank
#2
83
AI Consensus
89
stable
Trend
stable
91
ChatGPT
91
88
Perplexity
93
94
Gemini
91
93
Claude
95
95
Grok
91

Key Details

Category
Warehouse Retail
Department Store
Tier
Leader
Leader
Entity Type
company
company

Capabilities & Ecosystem

Capabilities

Only Costco
Warehouse Retail
Only Walmart
Department Store
Costco is classified as company. Walmart is classified as company.

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