Many young people are coping with rising prices by buying in bulk. They are starting to purchase food in large quantities and share the cost with friends, roommates, family, and neighbors. This has led to an influx of consumers in their twenties and thirties at warehouse-style stores like Costco and Sam’s Club.
According to The Wall Street Journal, a spokesperson for Sam’s Club, owned by Walmart, stated that Generation Z consumers are the fastest-growing member group at Sam’s Club. In the past two years, the number of members aged 27 and under has increased by 63%. Gen Z and Millennials (customers aged 28 to 43) now make up a quarter of Sam’s Club membership.
Rupesh Parikh, a senior stock analyst at financial services company Oppenheimer, mentioned that this growth is partly due to Gen Z entering adulthood and being attracted by lower food prices. These young people believe that buying bulk items like large jars of tomato sauce and extra-large packs of chicken, and then sharing among themselves, is one of the best ways to combat high prices.
A survey conducted by market research firm Advantage Solutions in June this year among over a thousand consumers revealed that nearly 40% of consumers aged between 25 and 34 share purchases of large-packaged food and groceries with friends, neighbors, roommates, and family. One-third of respondents across all age groups stated that they shop in the same manner.
While the increase in food prices this year may be lower than the peaks of 2022 and 2023, the impact of high inflation persists. On average, Americans are now spending 11.2% of their disposable personal income on food, close to the highest level in thirty years, according to the latest data from the Department of Agriculture.
Retailers generally frown upon sharing membership privileges. Costco performs on-site ID checks and both Costco and Sam’s Club restrict members to bringing in only two guests at a time. Nevertheless, both stores have seen growth in net sales this year.
Every two weeks, Andrew Watson, a medical school student at Northwestern University, and his four roommates cram into a car and head to Sam’s Club. They use one roommate’s membership and have never encountered any issues because of it.
Each roommate chips in about $60 per week for groceries. They all enjoy the same foods, especially chicken breasts. They stock up on bulk chicken to grill, fry, or bake with rice.
“We gather together every day, and our meals remain consistent,” said Watson, 21, “Buying in bulk is definitely a savvy move.”
Autumn Lucy, 35, lives with her family in the Detroit area. This tech industry worker also buys groceries in bulk and shares them with her mother and sister living elsewhere. She and her sister utilize their mother’s membership and often shop together. They rotate purchases regularly, including cherry tomatoes and oat bars.
“It has become a family activity and a way for us to spend time together,” Lucy said. “When our son was born, I was excited to take him to Sam’s Club for the first time. He sat in the shopping cart while grandma pushed it. It was an opportunity for him to bond with grandma while I shopped.”
Costco stated last December that by 2023, nearly 128 million people would hold a Costco membership card, with fees ranging from $60 to $120. Sam’s Club members pay $50 or $110 annually.
Some consumers claim that bulk shopping and sharing are not without drawbacks.
Devak Nanda, a recent graduate in computer science from the University of Illinois, and his university roommates split purchases of large-packaged groceries. He later realized that in this scenario, he wasn’t saving any money and disliked the added hassle of sharing.
He and his roommates haul a shopping cart and walk 20 minutes to Costco. He mentioned that the groceries barely fit into their small kitchen and everyone was in a rush to finish the food before it spoiled.
“The first minor issue I encountered was that if it’s your turn to cook, you end up eating the same thing for a while because you need to finish the large-packaged items you bought,” Nanda said. “It’s quite dull.”
Nanda created a spreadsheet to calculate if shopping at Costco would save money for everyone, but the result was negative. Ultimately, he jokingly mentioned that the only benefit he felt he gained from his Costco membership was enjoying the chain’s famous $1.50 hot dog and soda combo.