The Kirkland Product You'll Never Find In US Costco Stores

Costco's Kirkland Signature is a favorite for many of the retail chain's fans because of the unmatched value it offers. Sure, there are a few duds — sometimes Costco has gone too far in its effort to lower prices, resulting in Kirkland products using low-quality ingredients. However, for the most part, the warehouse retail chain tries to make Kirkland products the best possible alternative to popular name-brand products, focusing on being as good or better while drastically lowering the price. This is why you will find some products, like Kirkland Signature Aged Parmigiano Reggiano or even Kirkland French vodka, to be actually sourced from their authentic countries of origin, Italy and France, respectively. 

However, trying to make better and cheaper alternatives to name brands that invest significant resources into their products is no small feat, and sometimes, things don't work out for Kirkland products. This brings us to why you will very likely never (or at least not in the near future) see Kirkland mayonnaise on the Costco shelves. As it turns out, the company did formulate an in-house mayonnaise, and in an attempt to raise its nutritional value, seeded it with omega-3 fatty acids. Unfortunately, this resulted in the mayonnaise breaking down too easily, leaving it unable to stand up to the competition. Remember that it would've shared shelf space with some of the best and most popular mayonnaise brands around, and a less-than-perfect mayonnaise just wouldn't do. Ultimately, Costco pulled Kirkland Signature mayonnaise from the shelves while continuing to sell other brands. This is true for a few other Kirkland Signature products as well.

While it's unlikely that anyone apart from a diehard Kirkland products fan will go out looking for the brand's mayonnaise when there are so many alternatives, it's interesting to note that the "failed" mayo is still available. You won't find it on store shelves, but you can still order it from a few locations through Costco's online ordering portal. However, the product is only available through Costco Canada. Large 1.9-liter jars are available, and the condiment is labeled as kosher and made from 100% free-run eggs. It also mentions that it contains omega-3, meaning that the original objective of making the mayo seem healthier is still at play. Interestingly, it also has a few recent reviews, with some buyers saying that the mayonnaise is as good as other popular brands like Hellmann's while also being significantly cheaper, which is exactly what Kirkland aimed to achieve in the first place. 

Therefore, Kirkland mayonnaise seems to still be using the formulation that was unsuccessful in the United States, and is competing with at least one of its main competitors, Hellmann's, in Canada. This could be attributed to Canada's relatively smaller or less competitive market, which is why Kirkland's mayonnaise still has some takers over there. It's also possible that Costco is testing the viability of its in-house mayonnaise in the Canadian market before attempting to relaunch or reformulate a version of it in the United States

As you may have imagined, mayonnaise isn't the only product where Costco had to retrace its steps on a Kirkland iteration. Most often, the reasons are similar to the mayonnaise story, with the Kirkland counterpart not being able to compete. Ketchup, therefore, is the other common product you won't see Costco selling an in-house version of. The company seemingly realizes that competing with heavily entrenched brands like Heinz just isn't a worthwhile strategy, and thus simply stocks the popular brand. Similarly, you won't see Costco's Kirkland Signature boxed mac and cheese on the shelves anymore, as the product seemingly wasn't able to hold up to Kraft's stalwart. In the same vein, Costco's Kirkland-brand light beer completely failed.

The reason the company needs to be particularly careful is because of Costco's return policy. While not all products can be returned, Kirkland products do proclaim on their labels that customers can return the products if they aren't completely satisfied. Thus, if a Kirkland product doesn't turn out well, it won't just hurt sales, but Costco could also face extensive returns. However, this is unlikely to dissuade the company from attempting to make Kirkland Signature products in almost every category, competing on both quality and price. In fact, the brand's successes far outweigh its failures, with the likes of Costco's Kirkland Signature lager winning multiple awards and being proclaimed as one of the best beers around.