Tesco poised to be fastest growing global retailer

IGD said Tesco, which has a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% between 2010 and 2015, it will be the fastest growing compared with Walmart, Carrefour and Metro. It said growth is driven by sharing best practice in areas such as loyalty and services across its markets. It said sales will grow to E106,074m by 2015.

It also said Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, will soon reach half a trillion US dollars in sales.

It said Carrefour’s new hypermarket format, Carrefour Planet, and strong growth in emerging markets will support its position in number two.

Metro will rely on its international operations, which are predicted to grow faster than its domestic operation, IGD said.

Joanne Denney-Finch, chief executive of IGD, said: “Global retailers that want to achieve the highest growth rates are those that are building a presence in emerging markets. Rapid urbanisation and a growing middle class will create big opportunities in countries like Brazil, China, Russia and India.

“With retailer investment plans heavily focused on these emerging markets, food and drink manufacturers will need to keep pace if they want to be part of the growth. Each market is different and nobody should take their eye off the mature and domestic markets which still provide the bulk of sales for the international players.”