20 Largest Retailers in the World

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In this piece, we will take a look at the 20 largest retailers in the world. For more retailers, head on over to 5 Biggest Retailers in the World.

The retail industry is one of the largest sectors in the world, and one that has been disrupted by the internet and technology revolution. While traditionally retailers were limited to the brick and mortar operating model, the growth of the internet and the increasing use of smartphones and computers has forced them to place their operations online and created new areas such as last mile delivery.

Subsequently, some of the biggest retailing companies in the world are online retailers, with this fact holding true for none other than Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), whose massive success all over the world has made its founder Mr. Jeff Bezos one of the world's richest men. Additionally, out of the myriad of industries out there, the retail sector is one of the most valuable since its value is often estimated not in billions but in trillions of dollars. For instance, a research report from The Business Research Company outlines that the global retail market was worth $23.65 trillion in 2021 and it will grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.3% to sit at $26.3 trillion by the end 2022. From then until 2026, the research firm believes that the industry will continue to grow at a 10.1% CAGR and be worth $38.71 trillion by the end of the forecast period.

Adding to this, business consulting firm McKinsey believes that retailers will have to transform their business operations if they want to stay ahead in today's evolving environment. In a recent post, it shares that retail companies have to broaden their horizons to include new avenues such as omni-channel businesses, asset development such as logistics management, monetization of their ecosystems to benefit from trends such as big data analytics, and adding services such as pet care and travel to their portfolio.

Today we'll look at the retail giants of the world to find out the biggest players in the industry. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the largest players are Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), CVS Health Corporation (NYSE:CVS), and Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT).

20 Largest Retailers in the World
20 Largest Retailers in the World

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Our Methodology

We conducted thorough research to pick the biggest retail companies in the world and then ranked them by their latest twelve month revenue. When the revenue details were not available, we used data from Deloitte for the latest figures.

Largest Retailers in the World

20. Aeon Co., Ltd. (OTCMKTS:AONNF)

Latest Twelve Month Revenue: $65.4 billion (1JPY = 0.0073USD)