Rankings of US retailers in flux

Except for Walmart, the dominance of the other top 20 retailers keeps on changing due to e-commerce

Fast-shifting shopper preferences are reordering the retail industry. The scurry to keep up with consumer tastes led to Walmart’s recent $3.3 billion (Dh12.12 billion) acquisition of e-commerce upstart Jet. com and Macy’s decision to shutter 12 per cent of its physical store base.

Even more telling is a longer-term look at how retail’s leadership has changed over the past 15 years, underscoring the importance of staying relevant:

Take department stores Sears, J.C. Penney and Kohl’s, or traditional grocers Supervalu and Safeway. All were among the 20 highest-grossing retailers in America by sales at one point in the past 15 years, only to see their dominance fade.

Macy’s, which has seen its market capitalisation drop by 43 per cent in the past year, is still in the top 20. But the country’s largest department store by sales has fallen in the ranks to 16th (from 9th in 1995). Meanwhile, Amazon, Apple and Kroger sales have surged. Last year, Amazon and Apple were the 8th and 12th biggest US retailers, respectively. A decade ago, they weren’t even on the list.

Fifteen ago, consumers were still making regular shopping trips that kept traditional grocers and department stores thriving. But those shoppers gravitated first to supercentres and then online.

Lately, consumers have started to embrace smaller, fill-in trips at dollar and convenience stores. In fact, Dollar Tree and Dollar General are poised to break into retail’s top 20 for the first time ever this year, helped by massive store expansion and industry consolidation, according to an analysis by the research firm Kantar Retail.

And online shopping — which now makes up 14 per cent of total US retail sales — is still growing. Amazon, which joined the top 20 in 2010, is the fastest-growing retailer of the lot.