With its focus on value, Costco says it’s on pace to grow 45% this year

Although Costco Wholesale Corp. runs its web site like warehouse stores, without much merchandising razzle-dazzle, its value-based formula is on pace to increase sales 45% this year to $500 million, Ginnie Roeglin, senior vice president of e-commerce and publishing, tells Internet Retailer.

The main advantage Costco.com offers over Costco’s stores is a much broader number of products, she says. With Costco stores carrying about 4,000 products – and doing about 50% of their sales in grocery items – Costco.com has emerged as a good outlet for products and services ranging from jewelry, furniture and consumer electronics to travel arrangements and insurance policies.

“We’re doing a fair amount of furniture sales and we’re selling a lot of jewelry,” Roeglin says.

Catering primarily to its existing customers, who pay an annual membership fee, Costco doesn’t engage in many online marketing efforts other than an opt-in e-mail program that notifies customers of special offerings. And it hasn’t invested heavily in web site navigational tools or other fancy online features – at least not yet.

“We’re still a work in progress,” Roeglin says. “We realize there is a lot more we can do to improve our web site and we have a long list of things we want to work on. But for now, we’re relying on our great deals on high-end items to attract customers to our site.”