Top 10 Biggest Retail Companies in the World 2025

Alibaba runs Taobao and Tmall, the marketplaces that carry the bulk of China's online retail, plus the cross-border site AliExpress. Founded by Jack Ma in Hangzhou in 1999, it is a marketplace operator rather than a first-party retailer — it does not own the inventory it lists, which is why its gross merchandise volume is far larger than its revenue.

JD.com is China's largest retailer by revenue, and unlike its marketplace-first rivals it buys and holds most of what it sells. Liu Qiangdong founded it in Beijing in 1998 as a bricks-and-mortar electronics seller and moved it online in 2004. Its differentiator is JD Logistics — a self-owned warehouse and delivery network that lets it promise same- or next-day delivery on most orders, and which it spun off as a separately listed company in 2021.

Kroger is the largest supermarket chain in the United States with $150 billion in annual revenue across 2,700+ stores under banners including Ralphs, Fred Meyer, and Harris Teeter. Founded in Cincinnati in 1883 by Barney Kroger, its merger attempt with Albertsons (which would have created a $200B retail giant) was blocked by the FTC in 2024 on antitrust grounds. Despite this, its revenue is 67% higher than Carrefour's $90 billion, and its loyalty program drives 60% of transactions through personalized offers.

Carrefour is France's largest retailer and one of the biggest grocery groups in the world, with revenue in the region of EUR 90 billion from more than 14,000 stores in around 30 countries. It opened the first hypermarket, at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois outside Paris, in 1963, and the format it invented still shapes European grocery retail. Recent strategy has leaned on hard-discount formats and e-commerce under pressure from Lidl and Aldi.

Germany's Schwarz Group is Europe's largest retailer, operating Lidl (12,000+ stores in 31 countries) and Kaufland (1,600+ stores in 8 countries). Privately held and headquartered in Neckarsulm, Lidl's private-label model and relentless store-count expansion have disrupted grocery retail across Europe and the Americas.

Tesco is the UK's largest supermarket with $74 billion in annual revenue across 4,000+ stores in the UK and Ireland. Founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen in London, Tesco holds a 27% share of the UK grocery market. Its Clubcard loyalty program (21 million members) is one of the most sophisticated retail data platforms in the world, generating insights that power targeted promotions and supplier negotiations. Its revenue is roughly half of Schwarz Group's $144 billion.

Target generated $110 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue across 1,950+ US stores, positioning itself as the "cheap chic" alternative to Walmart through designer collaborations and curated private-label brands. Its same-day fulfillment services (Order Pickup, Drive Up, Shipt) handle a large share of its digital orders. Founded in Minneapolis in 1902 (as Dayton’s), Target’s stores remain both shopping destinations and fulfillment hubs.