As Australia’s supermarket majors reel under the recommendations of the new Retail Code of Conduct – the signs of fissures among these major retailers are on prominent display. This week, as an interim report of the Code was announced, Woolworths – the owner of discount chain Big W – wants archrivals Amazon and Costco covered under the Code.

Although Costco has only 15 stores here in Australia, a new-found business stream is proving immensely successful for the wholesaler retailer – the sale of gold.

Financial services company, Wells Fargo, has estimated that Costco “may now be running at” as much as A$153 million-A$307 million in gold each month by selling its bullion bars.

“Our work suggests there has been significant interest given COST’s aggressive pricing and high level of customer trust,” Edward Kelly, an equity analyst at the bank, said in a note to clients Tuesday, reported CNBC. “The accelerating frequency of Reddit posts, quick on-line sell-outs of product, and COST’s robust monthly e-comm sales suggests a sharp uptick in momentum since the launch.”

Bear in mind that Costco started selling gold only as recently as August last year, and in the last fiscal quarter it accumulated roughly A$153 million in sales of the precious metal.

Costco sells one-ounce bars made of nearly pure 24-karat gold. While the price of those bars is not disclosed online to nonmembers, it’s estimated that the product generally sells for about 2 per above the spot price of gold.

A quick check of Costco Australia’s website revealed a platinum ang gold jewellery in 14 carat and 18 carat.

Gold prices have been soaring this year, with spot prices rising more than 13 per cent in 2024, helped along the way by inflation and investor concerns over the state of the US fiscal situation that has an impact on economies worldwide.

In Australia, more than half of those polled in a new survey believe that the country will enter a recession in the next year. However, the quarterly Dye & Durham Australian Market Pulse survey, conducted by Resolve Strategic, showed that proportion of those who believe that Australia will head into a recession in the coming month has dropped four points to 54 per cent in the past three months.