The Top 10 Global Retailers based on revenues in 2008 are listed below:

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Source: Emerging from the Downturn – Global Powers of Retailing 2010, Deloitte

US-based Wal-Mart (WMT) is the largest retailer in the world followed by Carrefour of France. Recently Wal-Mart has offered $2.32 billion to acquire Mossmart Holdings of South Africa. This is Wal-Mart’s first entry into the African continent.Wal-Mart operates 4,40o stores in the U.S. Internationally the company has 1,578 stores in Mexico, 452 in Brazil, 298 in China, 414 in Japan, 379 in U.K. and 321 in Canada, in addition to stores in other countries.In the U.K. Wal-Mart runs its stores under the Asda brand name.

In Brazil, French-retailer Carrefour leads Wal-Mart in market share. Half-of the top 10 global retailers are based in the U.S. Grocery-chain Kroger(KR) and Target(TGT) do not have stores outside of USA. UK-based Tesco (TSCDY) has a strong presence in other European nations.Tesco currently operates around 850 stores in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Turkey. Outside of its home market, Tesco’s biggest market is South Korea.

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