Business

Global retailers soar as Aussies brace for Amazon

Australia is home to just 16 per cent of the world's top 250 retailers, but local retailers are bracing for international giants such as online giant Amazon.com and German hypermarket Kaufland to shake up things this year.

The Global Powers of Retailing 2017 report, by professional services firm Deloitte, shows that Wesfarmers and Woolworths are the only two Australian companies to make the list of the world's top 250 retailers by revenue.

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Retailers need $US3.5 billion in revenue to join. For the first time, WA giant Wesfarmers (No.21) overtook Sydney's Woolworths (No.24) in the rankings thanks to the starkly different performances of their home improvements businesses, Bunnings and Masters.

While the number of the top 250 global retailers operating in Australia has not changed year on year – steady at 39 – there have been some changes as four companies joined and four companies were pushed off the list to make way for bigger companies.

Department stores giants John Lewis and Debenhams have launched launched in Australia (joining forces with local chains Myer and Harris Scarfe respectively). Other new entrants were the US apparel and footwear company TJX Companies (which owns the Trade Secret discount chain) and France's specialty store Decathlon.

The world's biggest retailers by revenue have had a good run of late.

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More than three-quarters of them (192 companies) increased retail revenue in the 2015 financial year, creating a currency-adjusted composite growth rate of 5.2 per cent in the 2015 financial year, up on the previous year's 4.3 per cent.

 

Supermarkets dominated the top 10 – US giants Wal-Mart Stores, Inc and Costco, for example, and Germany's Aldi and Schwarz Group.

And Amazon has jumped into the top 10 for the first time, with $US79.3 billion in retail revenue for 2015.

David White, national leader of Deloitte's Retail, Wholesale & Distribution Group, said it's Amazon's looming arrival – first revealed by Fairfax Media – that is keeping many retailers busy.

"They'll shoot up the list over the next three to four years, with retail growth at roughly 18 per cent a year between now and 2020," Mr White said. "They're looking to move rapidly and that means getting into different categories and going into new countries like Australia."

Fairfax Media also revealed that Aldi's arch-rival, Schwarz Group, was taking steps to set up its Kaufland business Down Under. Kaufland sells groceries and general merchandise such as bikes and car maintenance supplies at low prices.

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