GLOBAL: Retailers achieve steady growth despite challenging economy – Deloitte | Progresiv

The Top 250 retailers in the world continued to report solid growth, despite challenging conditions in the global economy, according to the latest annual report by Deloitte. “The Global Powers of Retailing 2017: The art and science of customers” report finds that the Top 250 retailers saw their revenues grow by 5.2% year-on-year to 4.31 trillion dollars in fiscal 2015.

For the third straight year, revenue growth at apparel and accessories retailers outperformed other sectors. However, FMCG retailers continued to be the largest in size (average revenue of 21.6 billion dollars) and number (133 of the Top 250).  Deloitte noted that two-thirds of the Top 250 operated outside their national borders and had retail operations in more than 10 countries (on average) and derived nearly 25% of their retail revenue from foreign operations.

Deloitte also highlighted five trends:

• Less is more. Customers are defining themselves less by how many things they own and more by how curated their lives are in terms of possessions and experiences.
• “Following” economy. Customers are seeking experiences and products that reflect the personal brand they promote on social media.
• “Retailisation” of the world. The maker movement, the sharing economy, and other factors have made it increasingly difficult to define what a retailer is and does – non-traditional retailers are developing new business models to serve customer needs, such as subscription services and flash-sales.
• On-demand shopping and fulfillment. Relevancy will be determined by the ability of retailers to meet the on-demand mindset of the modern customer.
• Exponential living. Exponential technologies, like artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality are changing how we live and how we will shop.

Deloitte noted: “Slow economic growth in major developed economies, high levels of debt in emerging countries, deflation or low inflation in rich countries and a protectionist backlash against globalisation were among dynamics which contributed to a challenging economic environment for retailers. And yet people still need to shop, so the industry carries on. In some places and with some cohorts of shoppers, the outlook for retailers is favourable.” (www.kamcity.com)