开市客的中国商业模式：变还是不变?

This case presents a series of actions of Costco before and after its entry into the Chinese market based on the core competitiveness of its membership-based warehouse retail model. As of April 2020, Costco's first China mainland warehouse store had operated for seven months, during which time it bought another two plots for future stores. While Costco adopted a business model almost identical to its global or North American model, it received unexpected responses from Chinese customers. Just hours after opening, the store was so inundated with shoppers it had to close early, whereas a few days later, streams of customers queued to refund their membership. To sustain and prevail in such a market, Costco had to decide whether to change its business model. Adhering to the original model would mean Costco constantly struggled to maintain its foothold in the face of brutal competitors. Looking to new strategies would entail its forfeiture of previous success and living up to the daunting challenges of self-disruptive innovation by hammering out a new model to suit the Chinese customers' demands.