The list of biggest retailers in the world is dominated by American companies, with Walmart and Amazon at the top. While challengers from China are continuing to rise, Belgian-Dutch Ahold Delhaize climbes to fourteenth.
Schwarz Group (Lidl) is biggest European company
With an expected turnover of well over 442 billion euros in 2019, Walmart is still by far the biggest retail company in the world. The global leader is almost two and a half times bigger than the runner-up, Amazon, which represents some 183 billion euros in turnover. In Kantar’s latest top 50 list American companies still dominate the list: six out of the ten biggest retailers have their head offices in the United States. Only one of them is exclusively active in the US though: Kroger, which is number five in the list.
The biggest European company in the list is Schwarz Group (Lidl), at number four. German arch rivals Aldi follow at number 7 and French Carrefour sits at number 9. Tesco is 12th and Ahold Delhaize (climbing to 14th) is the fifth biggest European retailer. As was to be expected, Chinese retailers are climbing the list: JD.com has entered the top ten and Alibaba advanced six plpaces up to number 25. Lesser-known names such as Suning and China Resources Enterprise (both Chinese retail conglomerates) have also entered the top 50.
Kantar has also added a prognosis to the list: the consultancy company is expecting nice growth figures for Walmart, Amazon, Alibaba and JD.com in the next five years. The same is true for CVS, Apple and Ikea, as these enterprises are investing in new markets and business models and making smart acquisitions. The future is looking less bright for retailers with a more traditional business model, in particular major supermarket chains.
