Costco Expands DoorDash and Uber Delivery Deals, Stays Out of Arms Race

Fortune·23 Sep 2026·

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M&A · Partnership Industry Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail

COST ▲

DASH ▲

UBER ▲

Summary · why it matters

Costco Wholesale announced a new partnership with DoorDash and a major extension of its relationship with Uber, vastly expanding its same-day delivery reach while still leaving it well behind rivals like Walmart and Amazon. The membership-based retailer's same-day delivery had until now consisted largely of teaming up with Instacart for very quick delivery of groceries and other essentials, while Costco typically handles two-day shipping itself. Costco's hold on its customers remains strong: 92.3% of members in the U.S. and Canada renewed last year, and net sales for the fiscal year ended in August hit $297.3 billion, nearly triple what they were a decade ago. Its e-commerce business is growing faster than store sales, with digitally-enabled sales up 20.9% in the recently ended fiscal year against a companywide comparable sales uptick of 8.4%. GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders said e-commerce is important to Costco but not the be-all and end-all, and that the retailer is well differentiated enough that it isn't as involved in the digital grocery battle Amazon and Walmart are fighting. Costco's low-margin model, with membership revenue roughly equivalent to net income most years and an average of about 4,000 items per store versus 100,000 at Walmart, is why it partners with other companies for same-day delivery rather than building its own infrastructure.

Costco Wholesale Corp ▲

DoorDash, Inc. Class A Common Stock ▲

Uber Technologies Inc ▲