Walmart Again Reigns Atop Global Retailer Rankings by NRF/Kantar

Walmart has again topped The National Retail Federation’s Top 50 Global Retailers rankings. Conducted by Kantar, the 2026 edition ranks the leading international retailers based on their retail revenues throughout 2025. As the largest global retailers continue to expand outside of retail revenues, this list focuses only on retail-specific revenues and not overall organizational revenue.

“The retail industry continues to show its strength, delivering a solid year despite a range of ongoing challenges,” NRF Chief Economist and Executive Director of Research Mark Mathews said. “The retailers on this year’s list have demonstrated impressive growth and an understanding of evolving consumer needs, highlighting the industry’s continued resilience.”

Walmart maintains its position as the world’s largest retailer, driven by its continued investments internationally and across its digital services, which indirectly support the growth of its retail business, the NRF noted.

As for the rest of the roster’s top 10: Amazon, Schwarz Group [operator of the Lidl and Kaufland], Aldi, Costco, Ahold Delhaize and Carrefour followed, all maintaining the same positions as last year. IKEA and The Home Depot each rose one spot to the eighth and ninth place respectively, while Walgreens rounded out the top 10. Seven & I, which ranked seventh last year, fell out of the top 10 (to 11^th) following its sale of its department store holdings in Japan.

In terms of channel performance, the research showed small discount grocery performed better globally than large hypermarts. Carrefour expanded its smaller discount grocery banner in most markets, and Walmart continued to open smaller formats outside the U.S. and Canada. In addition, Aldi and Schwarz Group sustained their global growth thanks to their smaller discount grocery stores.

Exceptions to this trend were lifestyle-focused retailers in the club and home improvement channels, which continued to thrive in middle-class markets. Key examples were Costco, Ikea and The Home Depot, all of which landed in the Top 10.

The report also included an in-depth review/analysis of the major trends the retailers on the roster faced; click here to see the full list of 50 retailers.