NRF's Top 100 Retailers ranks the industry’s largest companies according to sales.
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The National Retail Federation’s annual Top 100 Retailers list ranks retailers based on U.S. sales. Walmart continues to hold the top spot, followed by Amazon, Costco, Kroger and The Home Depot. This series takes a look at power players in select retail categories. Power players are retailers in this Top 100 list with 2024 U.S. sales equal to or greater than 10% of the sales of the category leader.
There’s simply no catching them. With Power Players such as Walmart, Amazon.com, Costco and Target in the big box and mass merchant category, the “big deals” aren’t just in the cart. Walmart, Amazon.com and Costco continue to lead the most recent NRF Top 100 Retailers list, with $568.70 billion, $273.66 billion and $183.05 billion in U.S. retail sales during 2024 respectively. Target, coming in at No. 8, had $106.73 billion. Further, Walmart saw 7% growth in sales over the previous year; Amazon.com, 9%.
The list, compiled by Kantar, ranks the industry’s largest companies according to domestic sales. Companies are considered Power Players when they’ve had U.S. sales equal to or greater than 10% of the sales of the category leader.
As for that category leader, David Marcotte, senior vice president of global retail and technology for Kantar, commends Walmart for “refreshing the store and expanding the value proposition.” He notes Walmart’s ongoing tech and virtual expansion, including “a broader range of online offerings and financial technology tools for its shoppers.” The company’s marketplace continues to expand into more profitable growth in most markets.
As for Amazon.com, he says, the continued leadership for ecommerce can be attributed to the company’s faster growth into services related to its marketplace and logistics units. That, along with a careful re-launch of Amazon Grocery and steady investment into Whole Foods Market, has further established its omnichannel position.
With Costco on the list, Marcotte finds the club channel noteworthy. The membership model — which also includes BJ’s Wholesale Club (No. 22) and Sam’s Club — keeps getting “stronger and stronger,” Marcotte says. And it keeps driving shopping trips in different ways geographically. On the West Coast, it’s likely a weekly venture to buy groceries and gas. On the East Coast, however, these companies behave more like club stores, with shoppers coming once a month or every six weeks.
“You have the same box, the same product, the same thing, but you have a very different shopper, and it works. When times get hard, people go there because they think they’re saving money, and when things are good, they go there to buy luxury. It’s been a remarkably resilient model.”
