Brand Strategy: Week 7 BOC | Largest Retailers

There are an abundant amount of retailers in the world, and there are many different types of retailers, but asking the simple question of “Who is the biggest retailer?” has a very complicated answer. First off, if we categorize the different retailers, our job may be a little easier. Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer in the United States and worldwide. In 2011, their retail sales amounted to $316,083,000 in the United States and $452,976,000 worldwide. They are showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, the retailer is currently in the works to expanding the grocery portion of their company. They want to purchase the company, Fresh & Easy, which went up for sale recently. Fresh & Easy is a subsidiary of Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer that is based in the United Kingdom. Wal-Mart is at the very top of the list. The second spot belongs to Kroger, another American retailer. Kroger’s retail sales are $85,491,000 in the United States and $85,491,000 worldwide. If you could not tell already, there is a significant difference between the top spot and the second spot. Also, Wal-Mart employs the most people. They have a total for 2.2 million employees: “Like large retailers, fast-food chains also require plenty of low-skilled labor in order to operate their stores and expand” (Hess).

In the fashion retailing, the GAP, from the United States, was the largest fashion retailer in the world for quick some time; however, Zara, a clothing and accessories retailer based in Spain, has surpassed the GAP and taken the title of “The Largest Fashion Retailer”. Zara is a subsidiary of Inditex, which happens to be the “something of a supply chain marvel: clothes move from concept to design to the Zara stores in a matter of days” (Carlyle). The popularity of Zara has caused Zara to rapidly become the largest.