The Biggest Retailers in the U.S. by Revenue
America is the home of retail. The sector is worth more than $7 trillion, nearly one-fourth of the entire global retail industry, and well ahead of its closest rivals, China and India.
But who are its biggest players?
We visualize the biggest American retailers using data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Business of Apps.
Ranked: America’s Biggest Retailers
Organized crime is the newest and most profound threat to the U.S. retail industry (besides the fear of Amazon and or filing for bankruptcy).
Loss prevention professionals are scrambling to combat highly organized criminal rings operating across state lines deploying armies of “boosters”, who go into stores to steal anything from designer clothes, infant formulas, and electronics.
Sales and traffic at U.S. brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday declined from last year, as Reuters reports that stores offered discounts well beyond the weekend and more customers shopped online.
The National Retail Federation reports that spending per person over Thanksgiving Weekend this year was $289.19, down 3.4% from $299.60 in the same period last year.
Two days ago we reported that according to a troubling - for retailers - survey conducted by Reuters/Ipsos, nearly two thirds, or 63% of US adults, did not plan to shop on Black Friday. It is unclear what exactly is causing this sharp slump in US consumerism: according to Christopher Baldwin, CEO of BJ's Wholesale Club, one excuse is that "Black Friday is no longer a one-day event; it has turned into a multi-week event." Another possible reason is that shellshocked by soaring Obamacare premiums, US adults simply have far less disposable cash which to splurge on holiday trinkets.
The day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday, is when the holiday shopping season in the United States traditionally begins and is the day when retailers (at least in the past) finally turned a profit, going from “being in the red” to “in the black.” However, in recent years, this trend has seen turned upside down, with sales on Black Friday slipping, as retailers offer pre-Thanksgiving deals ever earlier than in recent years to capture heavily discounted market share (think OPEC) and draw shoppers as "Black Friday" no longer marks the spending peak at brick-and-mortar chains.