So I was thinking, as we move into our second year, we realize the need to buy groceries because most of us cook our own meals nowadays. Although cooking at home is already significantly cheaper than eating out, we students as consumers are still looking to save money by buying the cheapest groceries available.
A quick analysis of the UBC area would show that there are two main places to get your groceries: Safeway and Save-on-Foods. I believe the price of groceries at these places are about the same. However, a handful of keen individuals choose to travel one hour to Costco’s in the downtown area.
Costco has the cheapest groceries. As one of my roommates noted, the price of ground beef at Costco is half of that at Save-on-Foods. Having known this, I thought about the possibility of Costco creating a branch around UBC…will it work?
Well first of all, will they be able to get a substantial amount of consumers? Some would say no, as UBC does not contain as much people and as much “human traffic” as the downtown area. But consider the fact that UBC is on the very west corner of Vancouver. Chances are, students will only go to Costco to buy their groceries. Through this, Costco could perhaps develop some loyal customers too.
So what about the membership card requirement? Wouldn’t some students see that and decide to go to Safeway or Save-on-Foods instead? Well if the price of the membership/time it takes to register one is a major negative influence in the consumer’s decision to shop at Costco, then start with a special student service. Or perhaps launch a new brand of Costco, called Costco Student or something.
If the warehouse is proving to be too big, then make it smaller and try to only offer the best selling products. If the land is too expensive, perhaps try to work out a deal with UBC to subsidize it. There will be ways around the small problems, and the way I see it, Costco can earn a lot of money from the students of UBC.
So maybe they should do it? 🙂
