Gold fever: in the USA a discount store can sell 200 million gold per month
Gold on international markets is now reaching stratospheric values. We go from record to record, so much so that one wonders how realistic these values are, given that we are not witnessing an economic boom:
Price of gold in dollars
Much of this boom is tied to the Chinese middle class who are investing heavily in gold rather than depreciating real estate or depreciating stocks, but this retail gold buying craze is hitting the US too.
Last December, wholesale-discount retailer Costco announced that it had sold more than $100 million of gold in the third quarter of 2023. Cotsco is a particular retail formula that isn't exactly present in Europe, i.e. a “ Club” in which you pay an annual membership to access a large discount store where the assortment is wide but not very deep (many things are sold, but few brands), you buy in large quantities, but at very low prices.
In America this type of discount store also sells gold.
Well, now Wells Fargo estimates that Costco “may be able to sell $100 million to $200 million a month in gold.”
“ Our work suggests there has been significant interest, given Costco's aggressive pricing and high level of customer confidence,” analyst Edward Kelly said in a Tuesday note to clients. “ The acceleration of post frequency on Reddit, the product's rapid online sell-out, and COST's solid monthly sales on eComm suggest a strong increase in momentum post-launch ,” and, as CNBC reports .
Costco sells one-ounce (28.3 g) bars of near-pure 24-karat gold. While the price is not disclosed online to non-members, the product is estimated to generally sell for about 2% more than the spot price, which as of Tuesday morning was about $2,359 an ounce. That means the price at Costco is just over $2,400.
Costco gold bar sales are now limited to five per customer, still up from the initial two per customer while executive members receive a 2% cashback, making the purchase almost equal to the market price, which very cheap for physical gold. Those who use the Citigroup credit card will receive an additional 2%, and at this point they are buying below cost.
With these prices it is obvious that, in the USA, this form of sale has considerable development prospects, as long as it holds up, giving a further boost to the gold mania that is now gripping consumers.
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The article Gold Rush: in the USA a discount store can sell 200 million gold a month comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/febbre-delloro-negli-usa-un-discount-puo-vendere-200-milioni-doro-al-mese/ on Wed, 10 Apr 2024 08:00:21 +0000.