Omnichannel is the ‘new reality’ for retailers

Washington--While Amazon.com is still growing, it seems that brick-and-mortar retailers are learning how to keep pace.

For the first time last year, the Seattle-based e-tailer cracked the top 10 in Stores magazine’s annual list of U.S.’s 100 largest retailers, coming in at No. 9.

And it is at No. 9 that Amazon.com stayed this year, in a top 10 that is little changed from last year.

Wal-Mart Stores still ranks as the largest retailer in the United States in terms of sales.

No. 2 is The Kroger Co., followed by Costco, The Home Depot, Walgreens, Target, CVS Caremark, Lowe’s Companies, Amazon.com and Safeway, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based grocery store chain.

What all these stores, all well as other big gainers on the list have in common, is that they have embraced a customer-centric, omnichannel-focused business model, an analysis of the list states.

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Brick-and-mortar retailers that are growing are those with a strong digital presence, while pure-play online retailers, including Amazon.com and Blue Nile, which recently opened its own “web showroom” at a mall in New York, are finding ways of meeting shoppers face-to-face. 

“Omnichannel is the new reality for all retailers whether they engage or not. If you’re available where and when consumers look for you, great. If you’re not, you lose to someone who is,” Marge Laney, president of Alert Technologies, told Stores magazine for its analysis of the Top 100 list.

Other notable shifts on the list include:
--Signet Jewelers, the only specialty jeweler to make the list, moved up from 99 last year to 77 this year following its acquisition of Zale Corp. The Akron, Ohio-based company saw its sales almost double year-over-year because of the acquisition; and
--Toronto-based Hudson’s Bay Co. made the list for the first time, landing at No. 80 because of its purchase of Saks Inc. and Lord & Taylor.

Stores magazine’s annual list of the Top 100 Retailers ranks them by U.S. sales. It may include estimates for private or closely held companies. Retailers included are either U.S.-based companies or foreign entities with significant operations in the U.S.

Stores Media is the publishing group of the National Retail Federation, a retail trade association. 

A PDF of the complete list as well as the analysis is available on NRF.com.