Largest Retailers in the US
The latest data from the National Retail Federation shows that Walmart continues to lead as the top US retailer.
In 2021, the company brought in retail sales of $459.51 billion in the US—a 6.6 percent year-over-year increase. Not only that, but Walmart also increased the US share of its sales worldwide by five percentage points. In 2020, 79 percent of its global sales came from the US. This number increased to 84 percent in 2021.
The top US retailer also grew its store footprint across the country, increasing the number of stores from 5,253 stores in 2020 to 5,326 in 2021.
Walmart is expected to see even stronger growth in 2022. Already, recent fiscal data shows the top US retailer generated $141.6 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2022, a 2.4 percent annual increase. Most of this revenue growth came from the US market, where net sales grew four percent from $93.2 billion in Q1 2021 to $96.9 billion in Q1 2022.
Second on the list of the largest retailers in the US is Amazon. With $217.79 billion in US sales in 2021, this was a whopping 12.6 percent annual increase—nearly two times faster than the top US retailer’s growth.
Like Walmart, Amazon’s US retail sales also made up the majority of its global sales. In 2021, 66 percent of the sales it generated worldwide came from the US.
After Amazon, the third-biggest retailer in the US is Costco Wholesale. The company’s US sales surged 15.8 percent year-over-year to $140.41 billion in 2021—the biggest increase out of the ten largest retailers in the US. In fourth place is The Home Depot, whose sales grew 15.1 percent to $140.06 billion in 2021.
The Kroger Co. completes the list of the five biggest retailers in the US. The Cincinnati-based company’s US retail sales grew 3.9 percent to $136.49 billion in 2021.
Here are the remaining five largest retailers in the US and their 2021 retail sales figures.
- Walgreens Boots Alliance: $108.34 billion
- Target: $104.62 billion
- CVS Health Corporation: $93.36 billion
- Lowe’s Companies: $87.73 billion
- Albertsons Companies: $71.87 billion
