“Potatoes are integral to our business,” says Rangeley, “and are important to many of our member categories which are buying them in increasing volume.
Costco supports the government’s 5 A DAY initiative, which does not include potatoes amongst its recommended daily intake, but Rangeley believes the healthy element of potatoes should not be overlooked. “We, as everyone, lost out a little when the Atkins Diet craze saw people move more towards protein than carbohydrates, but potatoes are an important part of a balanced diet.”
He sees Costco as competing in the upper socio-economic consumer arena, and benchmarks his offer as such. “We put a great deal of emphasis on the gradings and specifications that we have. Sizing is very important - and if it isn’t right, we don’t want it. Potatoes have got to be perfect every time,” Rangeley says. “There is simply no room for a bad potato in the offer. Our customers have to be able to rely on us to give them exactly what they want - every time.”
The company’s business is based upon achieving high sales volumes and rapid inventory turnover by offering a limited assortment of merchandise in a wide variety of product categories at affordable prices. “We stock baking potatoes, ware and salad potatoes and whenever possible we source British product. If the continuity of supply and quality match up, we will always choose British product, and that applies across every category. We have a 52-week British potato offer, although we do import at times from France and Spain, mainly on salad potatoes. Our maincrop lines are almost entirely British.”
Through supplier MBM, Rangeley has had success already with its exclusive Charlotte Royal brand and he was the first to stock its Juliette potatoes under the Potato Lovers brand. “We need to develop varieties that are consistent and suitable for the purposes we sell them for and quality of presentation also plays a part,” he says. “Charlotte Royal built up a strong following amongst our members and I expect Juliette to do the same.”
He was one of the participants in the first Juliette dinner and dug Juliette in the Cornish fields, so has a first-hand view on the Juliette experience. “Fresh from the field, Juliette was a lovely piece of potato. It will certainly help to refresh our produce department,” says Rangeley.
Costco has 45 million customers world-wide. As well as 16 warehouses in the UK, the company operates a chain of 453 warehouses in 36 states of the US (334 locations), nine Canadian provinces (64 locations), Korea (five locations), Taiwan (four locations through a 55 per cent-owned subsidiary) and Japan (five locations), as well as 25 warehouses in Mexico through a 50 per cent-owned joint venture.
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