After years of a pandemic, it can feel like a tired line, but we’re about to face a “period of uncertainty.” Many of our favorite electronic items are getting more expensive due to inflation, tariffs, and market demands. Indeed, we have already seen an Acer laptop price increase announcement of 10% to help cover tariff costs. Meanwhile, we’re seeing expensive price leaks on next gen AMD chips. Whether your personal worldview is to cheer or jeer when it comes to incoming tariffs, the outlook is clear: You need to brace yourself for tariffs because, evidence suggests, the extra costs are going to be passed along to you, the consumer.
While you can purchase TV deals and laptop deals now, to get ahead of the damage, the party won’t last forever. In the long-term, shoppers are going to have to look elsewhere. Here, we’re taking a second look at warehouse retailers for electronics. That means we’re talking about Costco electronics, Sam’s Club electronics, and the like. These retailers, who buy in bulk, pass on those savings (at least somewhat) to the customer — and have surprisingly good customer service to boot. So, are warehouse retailer electronics savings the be all, end all solution to tech tariff woes? We think so, and here’s why.
The warehouse advantage
The warehouse formula is refreshingly simple: Buy in bulk at a discount, store it all in a large warehouse, sell off items to retailers and warehouse members.
Typically, there’s less focus on appealing displays and gorgeous stores for these warehouses. Instead, it is all about passing on the their bulk supply to individual members at a discount. Your membership (entrance usually costs a small fee) helps pay for staff, as some low cost products can have very thin margins. That’s why Sam’s club warehouse hours, for example, are still so good — my local Sam’s Club is open 7 days a week, for instance.
But it isn’t just small dollar items with tiny margins that get the warehouse advantage, big items that can handle deep price cuts are also available. And that’s why we’re starting to think a warehouse just might be the best place to buy electronics cheap. For instance, our resident TV pro Caleb Denison recently wrote about why Costco is allowed to sell TVs at a lower cost than any other retailer. It involves big deals with TV manufacturers and exclusive model numbers on popular TVs.
It isn’t a perfect science, but you can look at current deals to get a sort of idea about the kinds of margins we’re talking about. For example, when we look at the best printer deals at the moment of this writing, we see numbers like 50% off, 46% off, 36% off, and so on. Retailers don’t do this out of the goodness of their heart, of course. Instead, these large numbers can give us quick hints at what kinds of margins electronics have and, with it, a small idea of where savings might lie. It is by no means a perfect system, and if you find really good Amazon deals on something you want, by all means go for that, but as economic uncertainty rises, every little dollar will count, and these warehouse stores just might be the way to save.
Beyond Price: Quality and customer service
It’s not all about money, either. Costco and Sam’s Club are genuinely respected as great places to shop. Costco is already infamous for the $1.50 hot dog combo at the food court, but you should also know that the Costco return policy on electronics is particularly generous at 90 days. Meanwhile Scan & Go at Sam’s Club allows you to skip annoying lines.
These stores also have quality brands, and aren’t just filled with third party generics. For example, you can get Brother Printers at Costco or the latest iPads at Sam's Club .
Membership value
So, to reiterate and get back to our main point, here’s the summary: You pay for a membership, then get access to discounts.
Paying for discounts, in and of itself, can seem somewhat convoluted. However, you get a lot more than membership electronics savings with your purchase. First of all, you get discounts on all of the other items in the store, too. You can buy groceries and eggs (yes, eggs) at these stores.
Then, there are special programs that make memberships even better. For example, the Sam’s Club Optical Center gives you 40% off pairs of glasses after your first. And this is just one bonus of many.
Finally, warehouses often feature percentage rewards programs, where members get back a certain percentage back on all of their purchases up to a certain amount. Effectively, this gives you a small (but universal) “deal” on products with that warehouse store. For example, Costco perks include a 2% reward on Costco and Costco Travel purchases if you are a member at the Executive level.
Is Sam’s Club worth it?
As it is with any membership from the gym to your Disney+ subscription, it is only worth it if you use it enough to get value from the costs. If you want to join Sam's Club it will cost you $50 for the basic membership and $110 for the “Plus” tier membership. While the basic Club tier membership gets you in the door, gives you members-only fuel savings, and more, it is still somewhat intangible on whether or not you’ll get your money’s worth. The part of your brain that decides if the gym or Netflix is worth it while also have to be used here.
The Plus tier membership, on the other hand, offers straight up numbers that can help you figure things out. Now, there’s a long list and we’re not going to look at each item, but these three perks alone can give you a big idea if the $110 fee is worth it:
- 2% Sam’s Cash bonus
- “$0 prescriptions” (see below)
- $60 Sam’s Club gift card with T-Mobile
For every $100 you spend at Sam’s Club, you save $2 with the Sam’s Cash bonus at this level. $5,500 in spendings is enough to cover the whole year, which is pretty easy to burn through on electronics alone. The listed “$0 prescriptions” benefit is somewhat misleading, as only some Sam’s Club prescriptions are $0 while many more are capped at $10 for generics. However, the average American spends over $300 on prescriptions each year and if you’re in the nearly 50% of Americans taking two prescription drugs then this benefit could possibly save you $60 or more dollars each year alone if your medicines qualify. Likewise, the T-Mobile gift card also saves you $60. With just one of these savings of $60 you could cover the rest of the Plus tier membership with just $2,500 in spending at Sam’s Club (i.e. one TV and one laptop). And, of course, if you save with both, that’s the whole cost.
Bottom line: Sam’s Club is worth it if you use it. Sam’s Club Plus has more ways to save, and the typical electronics purchaser should see savings in a typical year.
Is Costco worth it?
Much like Sam’s Club, Costco is only going to be worth it if you plan on buying stuff from the store. If you don’t use it, you may as well lose it.
The base level membership for Costco is slightly more expensive than the Sam’s Club offerings at $65. Costco’s basic memberships are actually broken up into two types as well, Business and Gold Star. The Business version even lets you purchase items at the sale for resale in your business.
There there’s the Executive Membership for $130 per year. This is the one that gives you the 2% back. Luckily, there is a Costco value calculator on their signup page to help you decide if Costco is worth it for you.
Bottom line: Though slightly more expensive upfront than Sam’s Club, Costco is worth it if you use it. Use their calculator to decide if you want the more advanced membership level.
Who should shop here?
Shopping at Sam’s Club, Costco, or any other member warehouse store isn’t for everyone. Individuals, those that don’t do much shopping, and those living far from a physical location may want to think again.
However, if you have a family, are a budget-conscious tech lover, and have a location nearby then you should probably check out Sam’s Club and Costco. Remember that even though you can shop online for tech at these stores, to get the most of the membership you’ll also want to buy groceries at the store, use their gas station for member discounts, and possibly even partake in some of those famous Costco food court wares — which is to say that having a local store in a convenient location near you truly does sweeten the deal when it comes to getting a membership.
In today’s economic climate, ordinary people and tech writers like ourselves are widening the gap in places to search for electronics and electronics deals. One way we’re going about this is embracing warehouse electronics, such as those from Sam’s Club and Costco. In the near future, we’re going to be looking more at what these stores have on offer, from the top tech brands at Costco to regular Sam’s Club deals that we think you’ll be interested in. Looking at Sam’s Club, Costco, and other warehouses is going to be an ongoing project for Digital Trends this year and beyond.
