The List of the US’s Top 10 Retailers Remains Unchanged

Washington, D.C.--Though the order may have changed slightly, the same retailers continue to dominate the nation’s top 10, according to the annual Top 100 Retailers list from Stores magazine and Kantar Retail.

The annual Stores Top 100 Retailers list is based on retailers’ U.S. sales. Companies included either have group headquarters located in the United States or are foreign entities with significant operations in the U.S. market.

The order of the top four retailers on the 2017 list is unchanged from 2016: Walmart is No. 1, followed by Kroger, Costco and The Home Depot.

“At 55 years old, Walmart may be the oldest new kid on the block, but it still has the energy and mindset of a startup as it continues to successfully battle the competition,” said Stores Media Editor Susan Reda.

After that, the top 10 order has changed only slightly since last year.

At No. 5 is CVS Caremark (up from No. 7), followed by No. 6 Walgreens Boots Alliance (down from No. 5), No. 7 Amazon (up from No. 8), No. 8 Target (down from No. 6), No. 9 Lowe’s (up from No. 10) and supermarket chain Albertsons at No. 10 (down from No. 9).

Within the top 10, all but Target showed sales growth, the magazine noted, with Amazon’s increase attributed to investments in apparel, groceries (with Amazon Fresh) and mass market.

So what’s keeping the country’s biggest retailers big? A focus on value and embracing the new ways in which consumers are shopping, namely omnichannel methods that allow for opportunities such as buying online and picking up in store.

“The nation’s largest retailers are posting strong vitals,” Reda said. “They’re embracing creative disruption, reinventing physical stores as places for brand experiences and exploring new ways to connect with the consumer.”

This year’s list also is indicative of other trends that the retail segment is seeing right now, including the leading growth of multi-format retailers and the rising influence of the internet.

Meanwhile, one noticeable change in this year’s list is the success of dollar stores, where revenues have grown “drastically” over the past year, Stores said.

The Dollar General previously was at No. 22 on the list but edged up to the top 20 for the first time after posting a 9 percent increase in revenue.

The complete list of the Top 100 as well as an accompanying in-depth article can be found on Stores.org. Stores magazine