Costco treats credit cards differently from pretty much any other major retailer.
Instead of taking any credit card and offering its own branded card with bonus perks, the chain has an exclusive credit card partner. For a long time, the warehouse club worked exclusively with American Express and did not accept Visa or Mastercard in its stores.
That changed in 2016 when the chain swapped out its American Express relationship for an exclusive partnership with Citibank for the Costco Anywhere card by Citi, a Visa card that gave Costco members perks including 5% back on gas at its own filling stations.
When the switch was made, Costco stopped taking American Express and only accepted Visa in its stores. Members didn’t have to use the co-branded Costco Anywhere card by Citi, but if they wanted to pay via credit card, they had to use a Visa.
Costco expands its app
Costco CEO Ron Vachris talked about some of the changes the chain has made to its app during its third-quarter earnings call.
“The enhancements we have made include improvements to the mobile wallet, the introduction of digital membership card with quick access on the Costco app, and the rollout of our shopping cart prescan tool internationally,” he said.
These changes allow Costco members to use the app as their membership card, and some of them were allowed to link a credit card for payment.
“The store already allows customers to link their Costco Anywhere Visa Card to their digital membership card in the app. This allows customers to have cashiers scan the QR code in the app once, which automatically links the membership ID and the credit card information for easy payment,” according to Mashed.
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Now, Costco has quietly made a change that rolls out the credit card linking feature to more customers.
“Now you can use any single Visa®card in your Costco Digital Wallet – including your Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi. Pick one and use it at fuel stations, pharmacies and warehouse registers to speed up your checkout,” the chain shared on its website.
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Costco has improved its technology
Costco has also been making technology investments that aren’t consumer facing.
Speaking at Constellation Connected Enterprise 2025 Indy Cho, VP Analytics and Data Products at Constellation Research, said the retailer is looking to create a flywheel between data, inventory, demand and pricing.
“Understanding the demand at a localized level is an incredibly challenging task. Every time you shop that’s a demand signal. We get that back to buyers, and we they go through a tremendous amount of analysis to figure out how much product needs to get to the right location,” said Cho. “The bar for a higher level of accuracy is absolutely necessary but that doesn’t mean we don’t stop experimenting.”
Morningstar Analyst Brett Husslein thinks that the warehhouse club has been showing that its practical, steady improvement model has worked.
“Costco is showing it can layer digital and AI capabilities onto its warehouse model,” he wrote.
GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders believes Vachris’ management team, which took over on Jan. 1, 2025, sees an opportunity to use technology better.
“In my view, he is correct in his assessment. Costco can improve in areas like collect-from-store, checking what’s in stock at the warehouse, and making the e-commerce process easier,” he wrote on RetailWire.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino thinks that Costco has served its members well by being careful with its investments in technology.
“Costco is all about the customer experience and keeping those members happy and lifetime members. So being slower to adapt, if some say it’s a criticism, they are adjusting and going with the market to make sure that customer experience is seamless and the changes are done at the right time in the right place,” he told TheStreet.
This approach, he noted, has also been embraced by investors.
“If you look at the stock in the past few years, they’ve certainly been doing something right,” he added.
Be wary of Costco’s credit card
Costco’s credit card has some downsides, according to WalletHub, which shared an opinion on Costco’s credit card.
“The Citi Anywhere Visa does not offer much interest-rate appeal. Its regular APR is higher than the average for a card that requires excellent credit for approval. There aren’t any low introductory rates, either. So you’d better be ready to pay your bill in full every month if you’re thinking about applying,” the website shared.
Now, however, with Costco’s latest digital wallet change, members can use any Visa credit card in the Costco app and be able to use its full functionality. Allowing another Visa to be stored in the wallet doesn’t necessarily reduce the value of the Costco Anywhere Visa, because that card’s primary benefits are its cash-back rewards, not exclusivity.
