Kantar Has Made The List Of Top-50 Global Retailers 2019

The rating of the world’s largest retailers is dominated by American companies, primarily Walmart and Amazon. However, the number of Chinese companies continues to grow.

With an expected turnover of over €442 bln in 2019, Walmart remains the largest retailer in the world. The number of stores has reached 11,379. The chain runs outlets in the US, Canada, Mexico, China, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, India, Japan and the UK. The world leader is almost two and a half times larger than the second, Amazon, with a turnover of about €183 bln. In the latest top 50 Kantar, American companies still dominate the list: six of the top ten retailers have head offices in the United States.

The largest European company in the list is Schwarz Group (number four). Schwarz Group is a German family company and the owner of such brands as Lidl and Kaufland. Lidl is a supermarket chain with 12,318 stores in 29 countries. Their competitor Aldi is on the seventh place (11,922 stores), while the French Carrefour is in the ninth place. By the way, Carrefour is one of the largest retailers in Europe. The network has 12,713 stores in more than 30 countries and regions, which are visited by 1.3 mln customers every day.  Tesco, the UK’s largest food and non-food stuff retailer, ranks 12th, with more than 6,800 stores in various formats, from hypermarkets to convenience stores. Ahold Delhaize has risen to 14th place and is the fifth largest European retailer. Target is next on the list, and today Target logo can be seen at 1863 stores. American multi-brand retailer Target owns a large network of hypermarkets in economy class, enjoying popularity in the U.S. and around the world due to affordable prices and a wide range of general-purpose products.

It’s not surprising that Chinese retailers are rushing upwards. JD.com is in the top ten, and Alibaba has moved up six steps up to the 25th place. Less well-known brands such as Suning and China Resources Enterprise have entered the top 50.

Kantar expects strong growth among Walmart, Amazon, Alibaba, and JD.com over the next five years. Analysts are also making positive forecasts for CVS, Apple, and Ikea because those companies invest in new markets and business models, and make pretty smart acquisitions. The future looks less bright for retailers with a more traditional business model, particularly for large supermarket chains