Tugba Sabanoglu
Research expert covering retail & e-commerce in the UK & Europe
Get in touch with us nowLeading 10 retailers in the United Kingdom (UK) 2019
The United Kingdom’s leading retailers were supermarket chains, with Tesco ranking at the very top based on its annual sales of approximately 39 billion British pounds for 2017/2018. Together with Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrison, this quartet is often referred as “Big Four” in the UK grocery retail market. When combined, Big Four sales constitute more than 60 percent of the grocery market in the UK.
Despite concerns around decreasing consumer interest, department stores such as John Lewis and Marks and Spencer continue to be the UK’s most successful retailers. Both companies, which generated approximately 10 billion British pounds in the year 2017/2018 are hybrid businesses of grocery and clothing/general retail. Similarly, both Marks and Spencer's and John Lewis Partnership’s food segments currently deliver more revenue compared with the brand’s other retail operations.
As displayed in the present statistic, in addition to UK’s homegrown retail companies, online players like Amazon are imprinting their influence on the landscape as well. Amazon sales for the 2017/18 period placed the retailer in the top 10 ranking. Over the years, the global online retail monopoly’s UK sales rose exponentially, reaching about 14 billion U.S. dollars as of December 2018.
Department stores still relevant
Despite concerns around decreasing consumer interest, department stores such as John Lewis and Marks and Spencer continue to be the UK’s most successful retailers. Both companies, which generated approximately 10 billion British pounds in the year 2017/2018 are hybrid businesses of grocery and clothing/general retail. Similarly, both Marks and Spencer's and John Lewis Partnership’s food segments currently deliver more revenue compared with the brand’s other retail operations.
Amazon in the UK retail scene
As displayed in the present statistic, in addition to UK’s homegrown retail companies, online players like Amazon are imprinting their influence on the landscape as well. Amazon sales for the 2017/18 period placed the retailer in the top 10 ranking. Over the years, the global online retail monopoly’s UK sales rose exponentially, reaching about 14 billion U.S. dollars as of December 2018.
