In the early months of 2021, the world was faced with both promise and peril. On the positive side, the distribution of vaccines for COVID-19 was under way, offering the promise that the negative impact of the virus could abate significantly. On the negative side, the virus continued to threaten economic stability. Even in places where the outbreak was limited, there was a negative economic impact from social distancing measures to avoid a further outbreak. The challenge for policymakers was to control the outbreak, protect those who have been disrupted, and speed up the distribution of vaccines. The success of these imperatives will determine the path of the global economy in the year ahead.Deloitte's Global Powers of Retailing 2021 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 FY2019 (fiscal years ended through 30 June 2020), and analyzes their performance across geographies and product sectors.
RelianceBillionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Retail Ltd has been ranked 53rd on the list of Global Powers of Retailing, an improvement from 56th earlier, according to the Deloitte report. Reliance Retail is the only Indian entry in the global list of 250 retailers. It features consecutively for the 4th time in the list of Global Powers of Retailing and World's Fastest Retailers.
1- WalmartWalmart has led the list of the world's Top 250 global retailers for over 20 years. The company registered YoY FY2019 retail revenue growth of 1.9%, fueled mainly by growth in comparable store sales in the United States. Walmart International's retail revenue was down 0.6%, due primarily to a US$4.1 billion negative impact from fluctuations in currency exchange rates in FY2019 and the divestiture of 80% of Walmart Brazil to Advent International in August 2018.8This decline was partially offset by the acquisition of India based e-commerce group Flipkart in August 20189 and positive comparable sales in the majority of international markets.
2- AmazonAmazon again achieved the highest FY2019 retail revenue growth in the Top 10, 13%. This allowed the company to overtake Costco, becoming the second largest retailer in the world. Amazon's retail growth came from higher sales in its online stores in the United States and internationally, driven by the company's efforts to reduce prices (including from shipping offers), increased in-stock inventory availability and increased product selection. Marketplace and logistics fees and other non-retail sales are excluded from Amazon's retail revenue, in this report.
3- CostcoCostco dropped to third place despite achieving the third highest retail revenue growth in the Top 10, 7.9%, down 1.8 percentage points from FY2018, partly due to the impact of unfavorable exchange rates. The company's organic growth was driven by a 6% increase in comparable sales, together with 16 net new warehouses in the United States and four new international locations, including the opening of the first warehouse in China. Comparable sales were positively impacted by increases in shopping frequency, and average ticket size, as well as a 23.1% increase in comparable e-commerce sales.
4- Schwarz GroupSchwarz Group achieved retail revenue growth of 8.6% in FY2019, the second highest among the Top 10 retailers. The privately-owned company continued to focus on store modernization and expansion in existing markets, ending FY2019 with 12,500 stores in 33 countries. Its discount store format, Lidl, opened its 11,000th store in November 2019, and increased its revenue by 9.5% to EUR89 billion.
5- KrogerUS retailer Kroger was the slowest-growing Top 10 company, with retail revenue up 1% in FY2019. The 2.2% increase in total sales to retail customers (excluding fuel) was partly due to Kroger's acquisition of Home Chef, a meal delivery kit company, in June 2018.Convenience store sales were down following the US$2.15 billion sale of the convenience store business unit to EG Group in the first quarter of 2018.
6- Walgreens Boots AllianceWalgreens Boots Alliance recorded retail revenue growth of 4.8% in FY2019, down 6.9 percentage points from FY2018. US sales were up 6.2%, reflecting the impact of the continuing integration of the Rite Aid stores acquired in 2017, as well as higher brand inflation.
7- Home DepotThe Home Depot reported retail revenue growth of 1.9% in FY2019. The positive impact of an increase in comparable customer spends and customer transactions were offset by a comparison with the 53-week reporting year in FY2018. The company's "One Home Depot" investment strategy to drive interconnected customer experience in both physical and digital stores also delivered growth, with online sales up by 19.4%, representing 9.3% of Home Depot's net sales. The company again achieved the highest net profit margin among the Top 10 retailers in FY2019, 10.2%.
8- AldiAldi's retail revenue growth in FY2019 was 5.6%. Aldi's 11,235 discount stores in 19 countries are split between two companies: Aldi Sd, with FY2019 net sales of EUR59 billion, and its smaller sister company, Aldi Nord, with FY2019 net sales of EUR22.8 billion, plus US neighborhood grocery store Trader Joe's, which had 2019 sales of around US$15 billion.
9- CVS HealthThe ninth largest retailer, CVS Health, recorded retail revenue growth of 3.1% in FY2019, down 2.7 percentage points compared to the previous year. Growth was again driven primarily by prescription sales volumes and price inflation of branded drugs. However, this was partially offset by continued reimbursement pressure in the retail/long-term care (LTC) segment and an increased generic dispensing rate.
10- Tesco