Deloitte's eagerly anticipated report, "Global Powers of Retailing 2019," is out. Accordingly, the total revenue earned by the world's 250 largest retailers stood at $4.53 trillion. BİM, a discount supermarket which has been on the list for years, the Migros supermarket chain, which was also on last year's list, and A101, another discount supermarket that entered the list for the first time this year, represented Turkey. BİM and A101 were also among the 50 fastest-growing companies in the 2017 fiscal year.

The three strongest retail companies maintained their positions in the top 10 list. The average growth rate of the top 10 companies was 6.1 percent, surpassing the growth rate of the top 250 companies at 5.7 percent. On the other hand, the net profit margins of the top 10 companies were weaker compared to the previous year and those of the top 250 companies.

The reason was that eight of the top 10 retailers were operating in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, which is being increasingly suppressed by increased costs, the decreased pricing power in the market depending on escalating competition and transparency, and the need to invest in digital transformation. In the 2017 fiscal year, the revenues of the top 10 companies accounted for 31.6 percent of the total revenue of the 250 companies listed.

The FMCG sector came to the fore on the list in terms of both the number of companies listed (138) and the average revenue ($21.7 billion). A total of 138 companies operating in the fast-moving consumer goods sector accounted for 66.2 percent of the total revenue. Deloitte Turkey Retail Sector Leader Hande Özdiler assessed the leading results of the report, saying, "We see that the first three retailers on the list remained the same as last year."

According to Özdiler, Amazon moved up to fourth place this year from sixth last year. She underlined that an encouraging development in terms of the representation of Turkey is that A101 entered the list of retailing giants for the first time this year, in addition to BİM and Migros, the two regular players of the list. "It is also pleasing that A101 ranked fifth among the 50 fastest growing retailers," she added.

Deloitte Consumption Industry Leader Özkan Yıldırım stated that the global economy, which saw strong growth until the beginning of 2018, is now facing a slowdown, adding, "The decline in global trade, rising interest rates and tightening financial conditions around the world will have an impact on the retail sector as well. For retailers, this change may mean rising consumer prices, shrinking consumer spending and deterioration in the global supply chain."

BİM, ranking 150th on the list, increased its revenue to $6.8 billion this year from $6.6 billion last year and achieved 20.1 percent growth from 2012 to 2017. Migros moved up to the 225th rank with $4.2 billion last year from the 247th rank with $3.6 billion. Among the 50 fastest-growing retail companies, Migros progressed to 25th from 37th. The biggest reason for this rapid growth was Migros's 96.25 percent acquisition of Kipa.

A101 ranked 237th with $3.8 billion and fifth among the 50 fastest-growing retailers.