Kirkland Signature Expansion 2026: What $90 Billion in Private Label Sales Means for Your Brand
- alexsteinbergmojo
- 3 hours ago
- 8 min read
Let's start with a number that should stop every brand owner in their tracks: $90 billion.
That is how much Kirkland Signature — Costco's private label brand — generated in sales in 2025 alone. According to a report given at Costco's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders, the Kirkland Signature brand brought in about $90 billion in sales in 2025 — more than a $15 billion increase compared to Kirkland Signature sales in 2024.
Let that sink in. A single private label brand grew by $15 billion in one year. That is not a trend. That is a tidal wave. And in 2026, the Kirkland Signature expansion is not slowing down — it is accelerating, with new products launching across more categories than ever before, fueled by a deliberate, strategic response to tariff pressures and an unwavering commitment to member value.
For brands that sell — or want to sell — at Costco, this is the most important story in retail right now. Not because it is a threat, but because understanding it is the key to positioning your brand correctly in the Costco channel in 2026. At MOJO Sales & Branding, we have spent over 20 years watching the Kirkland Signature brand evolve, and we have helped dozens of brands compete alongside it — and win. This blog breaks down exactly what the Kirkland Signature expansion means for your brand and what you need to do about it.
The Kirkland Signature Expansion 2026 — What Is Actually Happening Right Now
The scale and pace of the Kirkland Signature expansion in 2026 is genuinely remarkable. Costco continues to expand its Kirkland Signature private label assortment, launching some 30 new items in the second quarter alone, ranging from apparel to consumables.
Costco's Kirkland Signature brand added four new items according to the company's March earnings call: crispy wings with classic Buffalo sauce, double chocolate mint sundae, Atlantic blackened salmon, and a women's ottoman full zip.
And that is just the most recent wave. The expansion of the Kirkland line builds on the end of 2025, when Costco launched 45 new products in the line in the last few months of the year — including a viral caramelized blueberry cheesecake croissant and new food court innovations.
Looking ahead, new products in the 2026 lineup include snacks like mini muffin bites and grass-fed beef sticks, as well as gallon-plus freezer bags, Kirkland Signature whey protein powder, and gentle baby formula.
The breadth of this expansion — from food to apparel to health and wellness — tells you everything about how seriously Costco is investing in the Kirkland Signature brand as a cornerstone of its strategy in 2026 and beyond.
Why Costco Is Doubling Down on Kirkland Signature Right Now
Understanding why Costco is accelerating the Kirkland Signature expansion in 2026 is just as important as understanding what is being launched. The answer is both strategic and tactical — and it reveals a great deal about how Costco thinks about its relationship with branded suppliers.
The Tariff Response
Rather than raising prices and breaking the sacred bond between members and the deals they have devoted themselves to, Costco is leaning hard on its private-label powerhouse to offset rising costs.
CFO Gary Millerchip confirmed the strategy explicitly: "Our goal is to be the first to lower prices where we see opportunities to do so," adding that Costco is working with suppliers, boosting domestic sourcing, and leaning into Kirkland Signature items as a major way to cushion the tariff blow.
CEO Ron Vachris described the strategies as including moving the country of production when that makes sense, consolidating buying efforts globally to lower the cost of goods, leaning in on Kirkland Signature where they have the most control of the supply chain, and sourcing more items domestically.
This is a deliberate, coordinated strategy — not a reactive one. Costco is using the Kirkland Signature brand as its most powerful tool against tariff-driven cost pressure, and the expansion is being executed with surgical precision across the categories where that pressure is most acute.
The Revenue Reality
Kirkland Signature is responsible for a third of Costco's total revenue, and its growth has been one of Costco's biggest bright spots.
CEO Vachris confirmed that Kirkland's sales penetration "continued to increase," offering members high-quality alternatives while helping balance tariff pressure. A private label brand generating a third of nearly $300 billion in annual revenue is not a sidebar strategy — it is the backbone of the entire business model.
The Quality Commitment
Costco aims to sell its Kirkland Signature products for 20% less than comparable options from competitors, while ensuring that all store brand offerings either match or exceed the quality of competitors' items.
Julee Ho Media Costco is also focused on selling items with "innovative packaging, clean ingredients, and full traceability" — making Kirkland Signature products a better fit for environmentally conscious consumers.
This quality commitment is what makes Kirkland Signature genuinely formidable. It is not cheap — it is premium at a discount. And that combination is extraordinarily difficult for branded products to compete against on price alone.
What the Kirkland Signature Expansion Means for Branded Products at Costco
Here is the question every brand owner is asking — and the honest answer is more nuanced than most people realize.
Yes, the Kirkland Signature expansion creates competitive pressure in certain categories. If your brand is in a category that Costco has decided to address with a Kirkland product, you are going to feel that competition on the shelf. Full stop.
But here is what the data and our 20+ years of experience consistently show: branded products and Kirkland Signature can — and do — coexist successfully at Costco, in the same categories, at the same time. The reason is simple: Costco members are not monolithic. They do not all make the same choices. Some members will always choose the Kirkland option because value is their primary driver. Others actively seek out branded products because brand story, origin, quality differentiation, and emotional connection matter to them. Both types of members exist in every Costco warehouse, every single day.
The brands that win alongside Kirkland Signature are not the ones trying to out-price it. They are the ones that out-story it, out-differentiate it, and out-connect with the members who want more than a label.
How to Position Your Brand Against the Kirkland Signature Expansion in 2026
This is where strategy becomes critical — and where the brands that succeed at Costco in 2026 will separate themselves from the ones that struggle. Here is exactly how to position a branded product to win in the era of Kirkland Signature expansion:
Lead With Your Origin Story — Hard
Costco is clear on its intention to only offer new Kirkland Signature goods if it knows they will bring genuine value to customers.
Kirkland Signature is value. Your brand is story. These are different things, and they appeal to different dimensions of the consumer decision-making process.
Your origin — why you started, what you are fighting for, what makes your product genuinely different — is the thing Kirkland Signature can never replicate. A private label brand has no founder. It has no mission beyond the Costco mission. It has no authenticity narrative that connects a consumer to a real person, a real place, or a real moment of creation. That is your territory. Own it completely and unapologetically.
Invest in Category-Defining Quality
The Kirkland Signature new product line spans everything from premium skincare to gourmet frozen meals, each designed to compete directly with name brands at a fraction of the cost.
Costco's quality bar for Kirkland Signature is extremely high — and that is actually useful information for branded suppliers. It tells you the minimum quality standard you need to meet, and it tells you that to justify your premium, your quality needs to be demonstrably, specifically, obviously superior in ways that a member can taste, feel, or experience directly.
Whatever your category — food, wellness, beauty, home — your product needs to deliver a quality experience that is genuinely beyond what a private label can offer. Not marginally better.
Meaningfully better. Better in ways you can articulate clearly on your packaging, in your demo floor conversation, and in your buyer presentation.
Price Honestly and Strategically
One of the most common mistakes branded suppliers make in response to Kirkland Signature competition is trying to close the price gap by cutting margin. This is almost always the wrong move. Chasing Kirkland Signature on price is a race you cannot win — Costco's buying power and supply chain control give it structural cost advantages that no branded supplier can match.
Instead, price your product at a premium that reflects genuine quality and brand value — and then make sure every element of your brand experience justifies that premium. Members who choose your brand over Kirkland are not making an irrational decision. They are making an informed choice to pay more for something they perceive as better. Your job is to make that perception as clear and compelling as possible.
Develop Costco-Exclusive SKUs
More Kirkland products will be sourced locally in 2026 and beyond as part of a strategy to cut the company's carbon footprint and minimize the impact of tariffs and other rising costs.
This localization strategy actually creates an interesting opening for branded suppliers with strong regional or domestic provenance stories. A brand that can offer a Costco-exclusive SKU built around local sourcing, sustainable practices, or a category-specific innovation has a compelling story to tell a buyer who is simultaneously trying to expand Kirkland Signature and maintain a diverse, interesting branded assortment.
Costco does not want a store full of nothing but Kirkland Signature. It wants the best of both worlds — a powerful private label that delivers member value, and a curated selection of branded products that add variety, excitement, and the treasure-hunt quality that keeps members coming back. Your job is to make your brand the most compelling option in the branded portion of that equation.
The Brands That Will Win at Costco in 2026 Despite Kirkland Signature Expansion
The Kirkland Signature expansion is not the end of the opportunity for branded products at Costco. It is a filter. It filters out the brands that were relying on price proximity to Kirkland to win, and it amplifies the advantage of the brands that are built on genuine differentiation, authentic storytelling, and superior quality.
The brands that will win at Costco in 2026 are the ones that walk into a buyer meeting with a clear, compelling answer to the question: why should a Costco member choose your brand when they could choose Kirkland Signature for 20% less?
If you have a great answer to that question — and you can communicate it clearly on your packaging, on your demo floor, in your buyer pitch, and in your digital marketing — then the Kirkland Signature expansion is not a threat to your brand. It is a rising tide that makes the most differentiated branded products shine brighter by contrast.
At MOJO Sales & Branding, we have helped brands answer that question for over 20 years. We know how to position a branded product in the Costco channel to win — alongside Kirkland Signature, in competitive categories, in a market that rewards preparation and punishes complacency.
Your brand has what Kirkland Signature never will: a story. Let's make sure it is the most compelling one in the building.
Call us today at 732.433.7873 or email Susan@MOJOSalesandBranding.com. Let's build your Costco strategy for 2026.
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