Global Powers of Retailing 2019

Executive Summary

The global economy is currently at a turning point. Until early 2018, the global economy displayed strong growth. With inflation accelerating in major markets, governments making shifts in monetary and fiscal policies, and most of the emerging markets experiencing significant currency depreciation, the global economy will slow down in the near future. For retailers, this change will mean slower consumer spending growth, higher consumer prices, and disrupted global supply chains. Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retailing 2019 reviews the global economic scenario and its impact on the retailing industry.

The report identifies the 250 largest retailers around the world based on publicly available data for FY2017 (fiscal years ended through June 2018), and analyzes their performance across geographies and product sectors. It also provides a global economic outlook, looks at the 50 fastest-growing retailers, and highlights new entrants to the Top 250.

Key findings from the report:

• The aggregate retail revenue for the Global Powers of Retailing Top 250 companies was US$4.53 trillion in FY2017, with an average size of US$18.1 billion per company.
• Retail revenue increased for 83 percent of the world’s 250 largest retailers (208 companies).
• Europe has the highest number of Top 250 retailers, with 87 companies based in the region (34.8 percent) and its share of Top 250 revenue was 33.8%.
• The world’s Top 10 retailers are more globally focused, with operations on average in 13 countries versus 10 for the overall Top 250. European retailers remain the most globally active as they search for growth outside their mature home markets.
• FMCG is the largest product sector. Its 138 companies (55.2 percent of companies) generated 66.2 percent of the retail revenue in FY2017.