Costco leans on Google tools and YouTube to build a bigger retail media business

Costco Wholesale is moving to scale a retail media business that it hopes can become a meaningful source of incremental digital revenue, betting that more shopping activity online can translate into more demand from brands for better targeting and measurement. In a market update, Costco’s strategy was framed around a partnership announced as a “major step” in expanding its share of retail media revenues.

A key element is Costco’s recently launched collaboration with Google Commerce Media and YouTube. The intent, as described in the coverage, is to simplify how brands and agencies work with Costco’s retail media network while leveraging Google’s commerce advertising tools and YouTube’s video reach to support campaigns tied to Costco’s shoppers.

The opportunity is being supported, according to the same account, by Costco’s expanding digital footprint. In its third quarter of fiscal 2026, digitally enabled comparable sales rose 21.5%, and site and app traffic increased 37%. Those figures announcement that Costco’s online experience is not just growing, but doing so quickly enough that a retail media layer could potentially reach a larger audience with each quarter.

Costco’s member-centered approach is also part of the argument for why a retail media expansion could work. The collaboration is portrayed as a way to strengthen engagement, with personalization playing a role in improving brand performance and retailer outcomes. Retail media, in this context, refers to the advertising and sponsored placements brands buy to reach shoppers through a retailer’s digital channels.

As investors weigh the plan, valuation remains a central question. The update placed Costco’s forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio at 43, higher than an industry benchmark of 30.6, while noting the stock trades below its 12-month median level of 46.35, implying some cooling versus prior expectations. It also cited forward P/E comparisons versus peers, including Target’s 15.18 and Dollar General’s 15.46, although Costco’s multiple still sits well above those figures.

The market update tied expectations to analyst consensus estimates. It reported that Zacks Consensus for Costco’s current financial-year sales and earnings per share implies year-over-year growth of 9.5% and 13.3%, respectively, and for the next fiscal year, sales growth of 7.9% and earnings growth of 10.2%. The article also mentioned an increase in consensus EPS for the current and next fiscal year to $20.38, as reported there.

Still, important details were not provided in the post’s description. It did not disclose the economics of the Google and YouTube collaboration, such as projected advertising revenue, pricing, or the expected timeline for retail media to become a larger line item. It also did not specify the scale of new inventory offerings, performance targets, or measurement standards that brands would rely on beyond the general claim of improved collaboration and engagement.

Going forward, what matters most for Costco will be whether its digital growth translates into repeatable retail media demand, and whether the company can demonstrate measurable lifts in campaign performance for brands without diluting the member experience. Investors will likely watch for additional disclosures on retail media adoption, any quantified revenue contribution, and whether Costco’s digital metrics remain on pace.

In the broader retail sector, the push is consistent with where ad budgets have been moving: retailers are trying to use first-party customer data and shopping intent indicates to offer advertisers more precise targeting than generic online display. Costco’s move, if it delivers, would represent another example of how large retailers seek to monetize attention and transaction data through advertising partnerships. However, until Costco provides clearer financial breakouts for retail media, the size and pace of the impact will remain a key uncertainty.