Woolworths and Wesfarmers are now in the same league as retail giants Wal-Mart and Costco after being listed as one of the top 25 global retailers.
The two Australian supermarkets are the only locals that made it to Deloitte’s Global Powers of Retail 2011 list of 250 largest retailers, which was based on their sales performance for the fiscal year 2010.
Woolworths was listed 20th, moving six spots from last year while Wesfarmers followed in at 23rd position from 28th last year.
Deloitte’s consumer business leader Andrew Griffiths said the two companies continue to perform well globally despite the relative size of the local market.
“The other companies in the top 25 originate mainly from heavily populated countries such as the United States, Germany, UK, Japan and France. If you add the fact that most of those also operate in multiple countries, unlike Woolworths and Wesfarmers, you get a far better appreciation of the relative strengths of Australian retailers,” he said.
Woolworths and Wesfarmers maintained their third and fourth places in the Asia-Pacific top ten, which for the first time includes a Chinese based retailer, Bailian. Building on last year’s regional dominance, Japanese retailers continue to hold six spots in the Asia-Pacific top ten.
The report also identified fashion goods retailers have been the most active in terms of global expansion.
“Locally we’ve seen a number of large fashion brands such as Gap and Zara opening stores. The Australian market is attractive for a number of reasons. Many of our consumers have already been exposed to their products through online shopping and the US and European brands benefit from the similarity in culture and fashion tastes here in Australia,” Griffiths said.