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Retail market worldwide - Statistics & Facts

The retail industry is one of the key contributors to the global economic machine with millions of enterprises offering goods and services, and billions of consumers purchasing them. Transactions take place through various channels of distribution across an ever-growing range of industries, such as food, motor vehicles, apparel, and electronics. While physical or in-store retail is the dominant channel in this market, forms of non-store retailing are becoming increasingly popular too. Online retailing or e-commerce channels are carving out a share of the retail sector in many global markets.

The world’s leading retail markets

The United States is home to the top three retail companies of the world, namely Walmart, Amazon, and Costco. In 2023, the total retail market of the United States reached a revenue of over seven trillion U.S. dollars. Another giant market in the consumer goods and retail industry, China's retail revenue was 15.42 trillion yuan, or over two trillion U.S. dollars in 2022. Looking at other countries with booming retail markets, India’s retail sales was estimated to reach 1.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. The country’s retail industry is dominated by the unorganized or the informal sector, which is defined as businesses held by own account workers, i.e., self-employed individuals or household members assisting them. In Europe, the United Kingdom and Germany are two of the leading retail markets. In 2023, retail sales in Great Britain amounted to 510 billion British pounds, while Germany recorded retail sales worth 650 billion euros in the same year.

AI is coming for retail

The retail industry has successfully leveraged technology across various domains including store and warehouse operations, customer experience, and in more recent years, consumer analytics. Today, further deployment of technology is a top priority for retail executives worldwide. In the U.S., for more than half of retailers, personalized customer experience and inventory visibility were the leading two technology areas to improve. The retail industry has also seen a growing interest in emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). Many retail executives are actively exploring ways to harness the power of AI within their operations as AI breaks into industries beyond technology. The AI momentum in retail is here to stay, with the value of investment into AI-centric systems reaching the second highest levels for retail industries after finance and banking as of January 2024.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Tugba Sabanoglu, Apr 19, 2024

Key insights

Global retail sales
28.2tr USD
Physical retail store sales
20.8tr USD
GDP contribution of the retail industry in the United States
6.3%
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CAGR of the global retail sector 2021-2026, by product category

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