After years of stealing market share from its brick-and-mortar brethren, Amazon (AMZN) is finally among the 10 largest retailers according to ranking released on Tuesday by Stores Magazine. It is the first time a pure-play e-commerce company joins the very upper echelons of the hit parade.
Amazon’s U.S. retail sales rose 27.2% to $43.96 billion, helping the online retailer land at No. 9, up from No. 11 last year, according to data compiled by Kantar Retail for Stores, a National Retail Federation publication. Despite the heavy investments and some progress on the e-commerce front by other retailers, Amazon still outpaced its rivals: overall e-commerce grew 17% last year, according to e-Marketer. Amazon’s $9.6 billion increase in U.S. retail sales was more than the entire haul of companies such as Victoria’s Secret parent L Brands (LTD) and Staples (SPLS).
Still, e-commerce saved the day, or at least mitigated big store sales declined, for several bricks and mortar chains. Best Buy’s (BBY) overall sales fell 1.2% so it’s frightening to think what would have happened to the electronics retailer were it not for a 20% jump in online sales. Ditto for Nordstrom, (JWN) which reported declining sales in its stores but still managed to enjoy an overall sales increase, and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT).
Not surprisingly, the big winners were either those that offered shoppers good deals, like Marshalls and TJ Maxx parent TJX Cos (TJX) and Ross Stores (ROST), along with the e-commerce champions. The biggest losers were those that didn’t offer much in the way of exciting merchandise or have much e-commerce to speak of, i.e. Target (TGT).
For the full chart, please click here. Here are the top 10.
Rank Retailer ’13 US Retail Sales % change vs 2012
1) Wal-Mart $334.3 billion 1.7%
2) Kroger $93.6 billion 1.6%
3) Costco $74.7 billion 5.2%
4) Target $71.3 billion -0.9%
5) Home Depot $69.9 billion 6.6%
6) Walgreen $68.1 billion 1.3%
7) CVS Caremark $65.6 billion 3.1%
8) Lowe’s $52.2 billion 3.6%
9) Amazon.com $44 billion 27.2%
10) Safeway $37.5 billion -3.7%
Source: Stores magazine