Total retail sales in the United States was forecast to amount to 5.23 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, up by 13 billion U.S. dollars in the previous year. Retail establishments come in many forms such as grocery stores, restaurants, and bookstores. There are around four million retail establishments in the United States. Leading companies in U.S. retail The domestic retail market in the United States is very competitive, with many companies recording substantial retail sales. Walmart, a retail chain offering low prices and a wide selection of products, is the leading retailer in the United States. Amazon, The Kroger Co., Costco, and Target are a selection of other leading U.S. retailers. American retailers worldwide Many of the world’s leading retailers are American companies. Walmart and Amazon are examples of American retailers doing business on a global scale. The success of U.S. retailers can also be seen through their performance in online retail. Amazon is a prime example of this, with the company’s sales revenue flourishing over the previous years.

In 2024, the in-store or brick-and-mortar retail channel was forecast to account for 83.8 percent of total retail sales in the United States. By 2028, e-commerce is expected to make up 20 percent of all retail sales.

Global retail sales were projected to amount to around 32.8 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026, up from approximately 26.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021. The retail industry encompasses the journey of a good or service. This typically starts with the manufacturing of a product and ends with said product being purchased by a consumer from a retailer. Retail establishments come in many forms such as grocery stores, restaurants, and bookstores.

American retailers worldwide
As a result of globalization and various trade agreements between markets and countries, many retailers are capable of doing business on a global scale. Many of the world’s leading retailers are American companies. Walmart and Amazon are examples of such American retailers. The success of U.S. retailers can also be seen through their performance in online retail.

Retail in the U.S.
The domestic retail market in the United States is a lucrative market, in which many companies compete. Walmart, a retail chain offering low prices and a wide selection of products, is the leading retailer in the United States. Amazon, The Kroger Co., Costco, and Target are a selection of other leading U.S. retailers.

This statistic shows duty free and travel retail sales worldwide in 2022, broken down by region. In 2022, Asian-Pacific travel retail sales amounted to about 33.4 billion U.S. dollars. Travel retail includes all sales made in shops located in duty free areas or any areas dedicated to travelers.

In 2023, the retail economy in the United Arab Emirates saw growth in spending in various sectors. These included fashion, entertainment, and other general retail categories. Fashion recorded roughly double the growth of retail and leisure during the same period. Retail, which comprised 38 percent of consumer spending, witnessed the second highest growth over the previous year at 16 percent. Fashion retail in the UAE In 2023,the total fashion retail sector witnessed a growth of 31 percent, driven by fashion and accessories sales. Fashion and accessories have contributed to around two-thirds of the fashion retail sector. On weekends, the fashion sector saw a 26 percent increase in consumer spending in the retail economy during the weekend in the country in the previous year. Retail moving online The UAE has a mature online retail market, offering both food and non-food products. In the coming years, online retail is expected to comprise a larger share of total retail sales in the country. The market share of major online retailers in the UAE includes both local and international corporations. Souq.com was one of the biggest players in the country before it was acquired by Amazon in 2017 and subsequently rebranded. Traditional brick-and-mortar stores have all realized the importance of maintaining an online presence.

In 2022, the overall offline retail sales were over 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars across India. In addition, traditional retail had the highest retail sales amounting to 750 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. By 2030, traditional retail is likely to increase to 1.38 trillion dollars.

In 2022, U.S. food and beverage retailers generated about 947 billion U.S. dollars in sales. Supermarkets and other grocery stores took the lion's share of food and beverage retail store sales, while beer, wine, and liquor stores took the second highest share of sales. Between 2018 and 2022 generally the sales of all formats grew.

In 2023, global retail e-commerce sales reached an estimated 5.8 trillion U.S. dollars. Projections indicate a 39 percent growth in this figure over the coming years, with expectations to surpass eight trillion dollars by 2027.

World players Among the key players on the world stage, the Chinese retail giant Alibaba holds the title of the largest e-commerce retailer globally, accounting for a 23 percent market share. Nevertheless, forecasts suggest that by 2027, Seattle-based e-commerce powerhouse Amazon will surpass Alibaba in estimated sales, reaching a staggering 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars in online sales.

Leading e-tailing countries The Chinese e-commerce market was the biggest worldwide in 2023, as internet sales constituted almost half of the country's retail transactions. Indonesia ranked second with the highest share of retail sales online (32 percent), closely trailed by the United Kingdom and South Korea, exceeding the 30 percent mark. That year, the up-and-coming e-commerce markets centered around Asia. The Philippines and India stood out as the swiftest-growing e-commerce markets based on online sales, anticipating a growth rate surpassing 20 percent.

Revenue of the retail industry in Mexico amounted to over eight trillion Mexican pesos in 2023. This represents an increase of ten percent compared to the previous year.

In the second quarter 2024, the share of e-commerce in total U.S. retail sales stood at 16 percent, up from the previous quarter. From April to June 2024, retail e-commerce sales in the United States hit over 291 billion U.S. dollars, the highest quarterly revenue in history. How e-commerce measures up in total U.S. retail In 2023, the reported total value of retail e-commerce sales in the United States amounted to over one trillion U.S. dollars—impressive, but the figure pales compared to the total annual retail trade value of seven trillion U.S. dollars. E-commerce still accounts for a mere 15.4 percent of total retail sales in the United States. Rising e-commerce segments Online shopping is popular among all age groups, though digital purchases are most common among Millennial internet users. In 2022, around 55 percent of Millennials purchased items via the internet. Mobile commerce is also growing in popularity, as consumers increasingly rely on their smartphones and mobile apps for shopping activities. In the fourth quarter of 2022, m-commerce spending made up 38 percent of the overall online spending in the United States.

In 2020, global retail sales fell by 2.9 percent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, bouncing back in 2021 with a growth of 9.7 percent Global retail sales were projected to amount to around 27.3 trillion U.S. dollars by 2022, up from approximately 23.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020.

American retailers worldwide
As a result of globalization and various trade agreements between markets and countries, many retailers are capable of doing business on a global scale. Many of the world’s leading retailers are American companies. Walmart and Amazon are examples of such American retailers. The success of U.S. retailers can also be seen through their performance in online retail.

Retail in the U.S.
The domestic retail market in the United States is a lucrative market, in which many companies compete. Walmart, a retail chain offering low prices and a wide selection of products, is the leading retailer in the United States. Amazon, The Kroger Co., Costco, and Target are a selection of other leading U.S. retailers.

In 2022, retail trade sales in Canada amounted to approximately 815.5 billion Canadian dollars, up from 674 billion recorded a year earlier. This represents an increase of approximately 20 percent in comparison to 2021.

Retail in Canada

The Canadian retail trade industry constantly grew between 2012 and 2019. In that year retail trade sales increased by 1.6 percent from 2018. In 2020, however, sales decreased by nearly 1.5 percent amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Motor vehicle and parts dealers retail sales declined nearly nine percent in 2020, while new car dealers, which accounted for about 20 percent of total retail sales, declined nearly 12 percent. In contrast, retail sales in other sectors such as supermarkets, and building material and garden equipment suppliers were impacted positively in 2020. Sales at supermarkets and other grocery stores increased nearly 12 percent as they were essential at the start of the pandemic. On the other hand, with consumers spending more time at home, sales at building material and garden equipment suppliers grew significantly. The year-over-year change was around 11 percent in 2020, but the month-over-month change increased by nearly 20 percent in December 2020 against December 2019.

This statistic shows the value of the retail analytics market worldwide in 2016, with a forecast from 2017 to 2022. The global retail analytics market was valued at 3.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2016, and was forecast to reach about 8.6 billion dollars by 2022.

In 2022, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey had the highest retail sales values in the Middle East and North Africa region. Retail sales in Turkey were valued at roughly three times that of Iran. While Tunisia and Jordan had the lowest retail sales values among MENA countries, they also have considerably smaller populations. State of retail sales Retail sales in the region are consistently growing. In the Gulf Cooperation Council, both retail food sales, and non-food retail sales are forecast to grow in the coming years. A breakdown of the retail market in the MENA region illustrates the fairly diverse distribution of the retail market. Certain industries like entertainment held only a small share of the retail market. However, programs such as Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia have poured billions of dollars into the sports, entertainment, and film industries to diversify the economy and welcome more foreign visitors. Economies of the region The various countries in the region have significantly different economies and key exports. Saudi Arabia, for example, has the smallest population but is only behind Egypt in its value of retail sales among the five leading countries in the region. Additionally, most of the leading retail brands in the Middle East in 2022 were located in Saudi Arabia. Turkey, on the other hand, is heavily reliant on foreign tourists to sustain its economy, especially as it has been reeling from high levels of inflation in recent years.

As of June 2022, Amazon accounted for 37.8 percent of the U.S. e-commerce market, making it the country’s leading online retailer by a considerable margin. Second place was occupied by the e-commerce site of the retail chain Walmart, with a 6.3 percent market share, followed in third place by Apple, with 3.9 percent.

Amazon’s continued success

Amazon has long dominated the e-commerce market as the world’s favorite online marketplace. In 2022, company hit over half a trillion U.S. dollars in net sales. The United States is by far Amazon’s most profitable market, as the U.S. branch generated over 356 billion U.S. dollars in sales in 2022. Germany ranked second, with 33 billion dollars, followed closely by the United Kingdom with 30 billion dollars.

Online shopping on the rise

Online shopping has grown significantly over the past decade, with more people turning to the internet for their shopping needs. The proof is in the numbers: the U.S. e-commerce industry was worth almost a trillion dollars in 2023. By 2027, forecasts show that the online market will grow to more than 50 percent. U.S. online shoppers purchase fashion and food and beverages the most via the internet.

Internet sales have played an increasingly significant role in retailing. In 2024, e-commerce accounted for over 17 percent of retail sales worldwide. Forecasts indicate that by 2029, the online segment will make up close to over 21 percent of total global retail sales. Retail e-commerce Online shopping has grown steadily in popularity in recent years. In 2024, global e-commerce sales amounted to over seven trillion U.S. dollars, a figure expected to exceed 10.4 trillion U.S. dollars by 2028. Digital development in Latin America boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, generating unprecedented e-commerce growth in various economies across the region. So much so that Brazil and Argentina appear to lead the world's fastest-growing online retail markets. This trend correlates strongly with the constantly improving online access, especially in "mobile-first" online communities, which have long struggled with traditioe-comernal fixed broadband connections due to financial or infrastructure constraints but enjoy the advantages of cheap mobile broadband connections. M-commerce on the rise The average order value of online shopping via smartphones and tablets still lags traditional e-commerce via desktop computers. However, e-retailers around the world have caught up in mobile e-commerce sales. Online shopping via smartphones is particularly prominent in Asia. By the end of 2021, Malaysia was the top digital market based on the percentage of the population that had purchased something by phone, with nearly 45 percent having made a weekly mobile purchase. South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines completed the top of the ranking.

In 2023, Hobby Lobby was the leading hobby and home specialty retailer in terms of customer satisfaction in the United States. The company scored 80 on a 100-point scale, overtaking TJX (HomeGoods) by one point that year.

In 2022, Saudi Arabia had the highest market attractiveness score among eight countries in the Middle East and North America, at 81.7. Turkey had the second highest score with 58.3.

In 2022, the total retail sales value in Singapore was just short of 47.24 billion Singapore dollars. This was an increase compared to the previous year, indicating an uptick in retail sales after the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Retailers using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies performed better than their competitors. Both in 2023 and 2024, retail companies using this kind of technologies saw a two-digit growth of their sales compared to the respective previous years. Similarly, their annual profit grew by roughly eight percent, outperforming retailers who did not use AI or ML solutions.