THE SN LIST: TOP 25 GROCERY RETAILERS OF THE WORLD

Rank & Company

e

HeadquartersSales (billions)

No. of Stores

Countries of Operation

1 Wal-Mart Stores

H. Lee Scott Jr.

United States

$244.5

5,164 (1)

Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam

2 Carrefour

Daniel Bernard

France

$64.7

10,704

Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United States

3 Ahold

Anders Moberg

Netherlands

$59.2

9,407

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United States (2)

4 Kroger

Joseph Pichler

United States

$51.8

3,667

United States

5 Metro

Hans-Joachim Korber

Germany

$48.5

2,411

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Vietnam

6 Tesco

Terry Leahy

United Kingdom

$39.52,294

Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

7 Costco

Jim Sinegal

United States

$38.0

400

Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States

8 Albertsons

Larry Johnston

United States

$35.6

2,285

United States

9 Rewe

Hans Reischl

Germany

$35.2

12,077

Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine

10 Aldi

Theo Albrecht Jr.,; Norbert Podschlapp

Germany

$33.7e

6,609

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

11 Safeway

Steve Burd

United States

$32.4

1,887

Canada, United States

12 ITM Enterprises

Michel Pattou

France

$31.5e

12,863

Belgium, Bosnia, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain

13 Ito-Yokado

Toshifumi Suzuki

Japan

$27.2e

23,700

Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States (3)

14 Edeka

Alfons Frenk

Germany

$27e

14,374

Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland

15 Auchan

Christophe Dubrulle

France

$25.9

1,120

Angola, Argentina, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, United States

16 Sainsbury

Peter Davis

United Kingdom

$25.9e

681

United Kingdom, United States

17 Aeon

Toshiji Tokiwa

Japan

$24.6e

8,120

Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

18 Tengelmann

Karl-Erivan Haub

Germany

$24.4e

7,015

Austria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

19 Leclerc

Michel Leclerc, Edouard Leclerc

France

$22.1e

535

France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain

20 Schwarz Group

Gunter Fergen, Klaus Gehrig

Germany

$21.6e

5,342

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

21Casino

Christian Couvreux

France

$21.5e

9,056

Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, France (incl. Reunion), Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam

22 Delhaize Group

Pierre-Olivier Beckers

Belgium

$19.4

2,520

Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, France (incl. Reunion), Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam

23 Supervalu

Jeff Noddle

United States

$19.21,220

United States

24 Daiei

Jiro Amagai

Japan

$17.7e

4,086

China, Japan, United States

25 Publix

Charlie Jenkins Jr.

United States

$15.9

756

United States

e=estimate. Sales figures are for the latest financial year. Companies included must have a significant portion of their sales from food. Information taken from company documents unless otherwise indicated.

Footnotes: (1) Store numbers include Seiyu; (2) Ahold is currently in the process of disposing of several operations in South America and Southeast Asia; (3) Ito-Yokado also has franchise operations in Denmark, Norway, Singapore, South Korea and Sweden.

Source: M M Planet Retail www.planetretail.net, SN research