Thomson Reuters
- Americans' shopping trips are getting faster as more retailers cater to speed and convenience.
- Foot traffic data show that shoppers are spending less and less time at Target and Walmart.
- But at Costco — which in many ways resists modernity — trip length is holding slow and steady.
For many (if not most) Costco shoppers, there's no such thing as a "short" warehouse run.
There's certainly nothing to rival the speed at which you can pull into a Target or Walmart, quickly grab what you need, and get on with your day. Heck, these two retailers will even bring it out to your car while you wait, something Costco does not meaningfully offer.
As is increasingly the case nowadays, there's a number to measure that.
The term is known as "dwell time," and it refers to how long a person spends at a place, such as a store.
Foot traffic data from Placer.ai indicates that while shoppers are spending less and less time at Target and Walmart, the duration of trips to Costco remains largely unchanged.
"We see dwell time down for almost every retail category." Placer.ai's head of analytical research, R.J. Hottovy, told Business Insider, pointing to shopper trends like doing more online research before a visit, buying online for in-store pickup, and shopping at more different stores in the hunt for deals.
Of the three retailers, Walmart has shaved the most time from its customers' visits, taking about 2.5 minutes off over the past three years.
And where the average Target run was almost exactly 30 minutes three years ago, it now is about a minute and a half faster, according to the Placer.ai data.
Costco trips, by contrast, are slightly longer than they used to be and are now almost 9 minutes longer than the current Target run.
In addition to changing consumer behaviors, there also strategic reasons from the retailers themselves for this difference.
Walmart and Target are angling to be seen as the most convenient and budget-friendly places to get everything from groceries to housewares to apparel.
Costco is far more keen to have shoppers linger on the "treasure hunt" where they load up with impulse purchases, which add up fast at $15 to $20 each.
"There is generally a correlation between longer dwell time and higher average ticket," Hottovy said. "We do see that the longer you spend in the store, the more likely it is you're going to spend."
After all, the mobile apps for Walmart and Target will not only tell you whether an item is in stock, they show you exactly where you should expect to find it in any of their stores across the country. Costco's app, by comparison, isn't as full-featured.
And where Target and Walmart have been loading the front of their stores with grab-and-go options, with more high-priced and seasonal items toward the back, Costco shoppers are typically greeted at the door with the latest flat-screen TV deals and appliances before finding high-turnover items like groceries and bottled water tucked into the furthest corner of the warehouse.
And while Walmart and Target's approach leads to more frequent visits, Costco still mostly counts on bigger basket sizes. Naturally, any retailer would love to have both, but in this consumer economy, a choice must be made. Either approach can boost sales, anyway.
So the next time your Target run ends a little faster than you expected, or your Costco run stretches into overtime, just remember: you're not the only one.
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