Retail, Wholesale & Distribution

Global Powers of Retailing 2018

The 21st annual Global Powers of Retailing report identifies the 250 largest retailers around the world based on publicly available data for FY2016 (fiscal years ended through June 2017), and analyzes their performance across geographies and product sectors. It also provides a global economic outlook and looks at the 50 fastest-growing retailers and new entrants to the Top 250.

The top five largest retailers maintained their positions on the leader board. A combination of organic growth, acquisitions, and exchange rate volatility shuffled the rest of the Top 10—which now accounts for 30.7 percent of the overall Top 250’s retail revenue (compared to 30.4 percent last year).

Retailers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) are by far, the largest companies (average retail revenue of nearly US$21.7 billion) as well as the most numerous (135 retailers accounting for 54 percent of all Top 250 companies and two-thirds of Top 250 revenue).

Transformative change, reinvigorated commerce

The rules of retailing are being rewritten in this time of transformative change. Innovation, collaboration, consolidation, integration, and automation will likely be required to reinvigorate commerce, profoundly impacting the way retailers do business now, and in the future. Across the retail industry, disruption of traditional business models has given way to unprecedented and transformative change—change required online and offline to better serve more demanding shoppers and redefining customer experience.

The four trends identified in the report are:

• Building top-notch digital capabilities
• Combining bricks and clicks makes up for lost time
• Creating unique and compelling in-store experiences
• Reinventing retail with the latest technologies