Directions Newsletter
By The Numbers: World’s Largest Food Retailers
-
Out of the 250 largest food retailers in the world, more than 30% are based in the U.S. (2012 Global Powers of the Retailing report)
- The global food retail market grew by 5.9% in 2011 to $5.4 trillion
- By 2016, the total global food retail market is expected to surpass $7 trillion
- Much higher annual rates of growth will be realized in the future in the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India, and China (the BRIC countries)
-
With annual sales of $914 billion in 2011, China already surpassed the U.S.(annual sales $887 billion in 2011) as the world’s largest food and grocery retail market (IGD market research)
- Walmart is the world’s largest grocery retailer with sales expanding 11.5% per year, and total sales of $446 billion in 2011. With over 4,500 stores, Walmart has a presence in 15 countries, including China, and employs over 2 million workers around the world. Despite its Goliath presence in the world’s retail market and its revenue larger than many countries' GDP, Walmart remains the most notorious anti-union employer.
- Carrefour, an international hypermarket chain headquartered in France is the second largest retail group in the world in terms of revenue, $149 billion in 2011. With over 15,000 stores across 33 countries, Carrefour employs over 471,000 employees.
- TESCO, the third largest retail group in the world with total sales $104 billion in 2011, is based in the UK. Tesco operates over 6,000 stores in 13 countries in Europe, Asia and North America, and employs over 500,000 workers.
- METRO Group, based in Germany, is the fourth largest retail group in the world with total sales $102 billion in 2011. Metro Group operates over 2,000 stores in 33 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa and employs over 280,000 workers.
- AEON, a Japanese based retail chain, operates over 12,000 stores in 12 countries mainly across Asia. The fifth largest food retail in the world with sales $95 billion in 2011, AEON employs over 10,000 workers.
Source: 2012 Global Powers of the Retailing report; Food Retail World