Top European Retailers
One look at the "Global Powers of Retailing Top 250" from the National Retail Federation Stores website shows the dominance of the global retail marketplace by the United States and Europe. Among the top 10 global retailers in 2008, four of the top 10 revenue generators are European-based companies.
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Carrefour
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Carrefour is the second largest retailer in the world behind Wal-mart, and is easily the largest European retailer. In 2008, this French-centered retailer netted nearly $128 billion in sales, according to the "Global Powers of Retailing Top 250." Carrefour operates more than 87,000 stores worldwide, but the Global License! magazine notes the importance that none of its stores are in North America. The magazine also points out the irony that Carrefour is second to Wal-mart in global sales despite having about 13 times more stores than the American retail giant.
Metro
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Metro, a German retailer, ranked third on the 2008 list of top global retailers, according to the "Global Powers of Retailing Top 250." It earned just under $100 billion in global sales in 2008. With a brand focused on affordable private label products, Global License! says the company contributed greatly to Wal-mart's retreat from Germany in 2006. Metro operates with high efficiency as it has just over 2,000 stores.
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Schwarz
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Another top Germany retailer, Schwarz, captured nearly $80 billion in global sales in 2008, a growth of 12.6 percent over its 2007 sales total. The company ranked number five on the "Global Powers of Retailing Top 250." Global License! notes that Schwarz operates 7,500 store locations with "discount stores, hypermarkets and supercenters across Europe, primarily under the Lidl name." It is a privately held retail company known for no frills and a hard discounting approach to retail.
Aldi
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Aldi was the third German retailer on the 2008 "Global Powers of Retailing Top 250" with its $66 billion in sales. The company follows suit with other top German retailers with its no frills, private label brands focus. The company operates its Aldi store in Europe and the United States and has been expanding its Trader Joe's store brand in the last few years in the United States. Trader Joe's offers low-priced organic and gourmet products
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References
- Photo Credit Old Europe image by Nikituk from Fotolia.com
