World’s top grocers

The world’s largest 30 grocery retailers account for nearly a third of the global market and continue to grow at a faster rate than the modern grocery market as a whole, according to industry analyst Planet Retail’s recently published ‘Top 30 Grocery Retailers Worldwide’.

Based on final figures for 2005, this year’s ranking and analysis reveals two clear winners – Wal-Mart which owns Asda and Tesco. With sales of US$339 billion and a worldwide market share that almost equals the rest of the top five combined, Wal-Mart maintains its undisputable position at number one. Even though France’s Carrefour is in second place, the report’s figures show it has some way to go to matching Wal-Mart’s market share.

Closing the gap on the third placed Metro Group is Britain’s Tesco, which represents the fastest-growing retailer in the top five. Tesco’s sales growth of 14% in 2005 was backed by a continuing strong performance in the UK, as well as further overseas growth, including a first full year contribution from its Chinese operations.

In contrast, however, Sainsbury has failed to grow at the same pace as the rest of the top 30 and dropped a few places since disposing of its US operations in 2004. Being confined to the UK market has meant limited growth potential, says Planet Retail.

Despite its acquisition of Safeway, Morrisons dropped four places this year. It closed or disposed of 28 hypermarkets and superstores and 153 other smaller stores. There are four new stores planned for 2006.