Warm Up

• How long have you been shopping at Costco?
• About how often do you make a trip to Costco?
• Do you shop at regular intervals (like once or month) or as needed?
• Do you typically shop by yourself or with someone else?
• What sorts of things do you typically buy at Costco?
  • Ask about other ways of buying these things, e.g., if they mention groceries, ask if there are other places they buy groceries as well. If so, ask about when or what they would buy at Costco vs. buying via another method

Core Questions

• I’d like you to think back to a recent shopping trip to Costco. Could you describe that trip, starting with how you decided you should go to Costco. [ mostly let them talk, but follow up on the following
• Ask if they have a specific route they take through the store, and why/why not
• Ask if had specific list of items to buy, and if so did that match what they actually bought (either not getting something on list, or getting something not on list). In either case, ask why.
• Ask about overall time spent in store. Follow-up with whether that’s typical, either compared to other Costco trips or compared to going to other stores.
  • Was the store busy or not so busy?
  • Was the parking lot crowded or did you easily find a place to park?
  • How were the checkout lines?
• Ask whether anything unusual or surprising occurred during their visit