Costco rolling out game-changing new feature on mobile app
Customers react on social media to Costco's quiet release of new mobile app feature
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For some wondering if their local Costco has a particular item in stock, the days of calling or showing up to look may be over.
That is because Costco has quietly rolled out a "search warehouse inventory" tool on its mobile app for some customers.
The feature is in Beta testing. It can be accessed by clicking "warehouse" on the bottom, which is in between "account" and "cart."
Customers' selected stores will show hours, gas prices and then have a search bar. Once the search bar is clicked, warehouse inventory can be checked by product name or description.
Beta warehouse tools in the Costco app show a new feature called "search warehouse inventory" for some. (Costco Wholesale / Fox News)
Warehouse locations inventory can be searched by product name or description in the app for some. (Costco Wholesale / Fox News)
The tool was first launched for some users back in June, according to reports.
"I just looked out the window to see if a pig flew by," one X user wrote on Sept. 6. "My Costco app has LOCAL INVENTORY SEARCH. Amazing."
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A Costco store in Bayonne, New Jersey, US, on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"GREAT new app feature, @Costco, but ‘search warehouse inventory’ makes me SO MAD," another X user wrote on the same day. "Now I don’t even have to drive to the warehouse to see that you still haven’t restocked my favorite products! @Theorigchipwich #WarehouseInventory."
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Customers shop at a Costco store in Teterboro, New Jersey, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (Stephanie Keith/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Costco did not immediately respond to a FOX Business request for comment about the new app feature.
Costco’s plan to raise the price of its membership for the first time in seven years took effect last Sunday.
The wholesale club increased annual membership fees by $5 and $10 in the U.S. and Canada, with "gold star" and business memberships up from $60 to $65, and executive memberships increasing to $130 from the earlier $120, the company said.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COST | COSTCO WHOLESALE CORP. | 955.65 | +27.57 | +2.97% |
The cost increase will impact around 52 million memberships, a little more than half of which are the club’s executive members, Costco said in a July news release.
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Costco had last raised membership fees in June 2017.
FOX Business' Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.