World top largest retailers to get as your distributor in 2024

If you want to grow your international turnover, the first thing you do is to look at the world’s leading retailers. If you can deal with their negotiation power, handle their pressure on margins and their volumes, these are the players to do business with.

Here is the top 50 list of retailers in the world, as compiled by Kantar:

RankRetailerHeadquartersLink
1WalmartUnited Stateshttps://www.walmart.com
2AmazonUnited Stateshttps://www.amazon.com
3CostcoUnited Stateshttps://www.costco.com
4Schwarz GroupGermanyhttps://www.lidl.com
5The Home DepotUnited Stateshttps://www.homedepot.com
6AldiGermanyhttps://www.aldi.com
7Ahold DelhaizeNetherlandshttps://www.aholddelhaize.com
8CarrefourFrancehttps://www.carrefour.com
9JD.comChinahttps://www.jd.com
10LidlGermanyhttps://www.lidl.com
11Seven & I HoldingsJapanhttps://www.7andi.com
12TargetUnited Stateshttps://www.target.com
13A.S. Watson GroupChinahttps://www.aswatson.com
14CVS HealthUnited Stateshttps://www.cvshealth.com
15Walgreens Boots AllianceUnited Stateshttps://www.walgreens.com
16AlibabaChinahttps://www.alibaba.com
17TescoUnited Kingdomhttps://www.tesco.com
18AdeoFrancehttps://www.adeo.com
19MercadonaSpainhttps://www.mercadona.es
20Best BuyUnited Stateshttps://www.bestbuy.com
21WesfarmersAustraliahttps://www.wesfarmers.com.au
22E.LeclercFrancehttps://www.e.leclerc
23WoolworthsAustraliahttps://www.woolworths.com.au
24TJXUnited Stateshttps://www.tjx.com
25Sainsbury’sUnited Kingdomhttps://www.sainsburys.co.uk
26Publix Super MarketsUnited Stateshttps://www.publix.com
27Rewe GroupGermanyhttps://www.rewe-group.com
28Metro GroupGermanyhttps://www.metro.com
29AppleUnited Stateshttps://www.apple.com
30IntermarchéFrancehttps://www.intermarche.com
31EdekaGermanyhttps://www.edeka.de
32Dollar GeneralUnited Stateshttps://www.dollargeneral.com
33Casino GroupFrancehttps://www.groupe-casino.fr
34MagnitRussiahttps://www.magnit.com
35InditexSpainhttps://www.inditex.com
36H&MSwedenhttps://www.hm.com
37Dollar TreeUnited Stateshttps://www.dollartree.com
38IKEANetherlandshttps://www.ikea.com
39Marks & SpencerUnited Kingdomhttps://www.marksandspencer.com
40Lotte ShoppingSouth Koreahttps://www.lotteshopping.com
41Ross StoresUnited Stateshttps://www.rossstores.com
42AuchanFrancehttps://www.auchan.com
43Reliance IndustriesIndiahttps://www.ril.com
44SephoraFrancehttps://www.sephora.com
45KrogerUnited Stateshttps://www.kroger.com
46El Corte InglésSpainhttps://www.elcorteingles.com
47MorrisonsUnited Kingdomhttps://www.morrisons.com
48Système UFrancehttps://www.systeme-u.com
49BIMTurkeyhttps://www.bim.com.tr
50Spar InternationalNetherlandshttps://www.spar-international.com

Some major retailers described more in detail

Target

Next to Walmart, Target is the second largest retailer in the United States with 1,948 stores in the United States and a satellite corporate headquarters in Bangalore, India. To date, India is Target’s lone active overseas distributor with 3,000 team members. Digital marketing and online shopping largely contributed to the 3.4 percent growth of Target’s total revenues as of 2023. Source

Casino

Casino is France’s ancient gold mine in the retail world. It is the oldest among the top retailers and currently holds a network of 10,800 stores in France alone with international markets in South America and Asia. It is a leader or a co-leader in companies in several countries and has generated net sales of €30.5 billion in 2022. Source

Metro Group

Metro Group is a retail group in Germany that runs hypermarkets, stores, and department stores. Most of its stores are cash-and-carries that was able to break the €29.8 billion mark in revenues as of 2023. On the same year, Metro Group became operational in 34 countries. Source

Aldi

Aldi, another popular retail store in Germany, runs 11,235 stores in twenty countries across the globe. Its products consist of food, toilet paper, beverage, household essentials, and sanitary articles. As of 2022, Aldi generated a global turnover of €120 billion. Source

Kroger

Kroger is an American multi-brand group that operates in 35 states in the United States. It is a manufacturer and a retail giant with a large network of supermarkets with a revenue of $137.9 billion in 2022. Source

Lidl

Lidl is another German global discount retail chain that runs over 12,000 stores in 32 countries across Europe. It is very secretive and opts to forgo publishing of any official figures in gross sales and revenues. Source

Carrefour

It is the pioneer of globalization that started its infancy in France. Carrefour now caters to 12,225 locations worldwide. Source

Costco

Although it does not operate many stores, Costco is the world’s second largest retailer in terms of sales. It primarily caters to large-scale wholesale clubs that generate significant revenues. Initially founded in the United States, it now has 847 warehouses worldwide. Source

Walmart

Walmart is the top private employer in the world and currently holds the number one spot in sales. It is an American multinational retail corporation in the United States and has been difficult to dethrone since its globalization in 1991. Currently, Walmart has 10,586 retail stores worldwide. Source

Tesco

Tesco is one of the oldest top retailers in the world and runs several stores in Europe and Asia. Tesco initially gained traction in Great Britain in 1919 and now has over 4,673 stores worldwide. Source

 

Don’t forget the second tier!

Doing business with these top-tier retailers provides huge chances, but may put pressure on your margins and imply taking bigger risks. There is however a second tier of retailers where you may get in easier and this way build the experience in a country needed to convince a top player.

Alliance experts can help you with this. Just look at our distributor search service and read about the various cases we did.

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