Over the next five years, large traditional supermarkets and grocery chains may struggle to maintain their edge in the growing space of alternative retailers. Many of the world's largest supermarket chains are seeking technological innovation to maintain a competitive edge, and some of the largest supermarket chains are still controlled by families today.
We compiled a list of the top 10 supermarket chains based on the number of locations.
10. Penny Market
Country: Germany
Location: 3,580
Number of employees: 48,000
The German discount chain was founded in 1973 by Leibbrand Gruppe and acquired by the Rewe Group in 1989. Based in Cologne, Penny (International Penny Market) is one of Europe's leading discount retailers with branches in Austria, Italy, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Hungary.
Penny Market's total revenue for 2021 is $13.9 billion.
9. CBA
Country: Hungary
Location: 5,200
Number of employees: 30,000
CBA was founded in 1992 by László Baldauf and was originally the acquisition of 17 grocery stores in Hungary by 10 private investors. Today, CBA has branches in Bulgaria, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
The chain remained family-controlled until 2017, when Bardorf laid the groundwork for his departure by selling ownership of seven CBA locations to rival supermarket chain Lidl. In 2018, Bardorf announced that he would sell the remaining stake in the company to six other owners, cementing his retirement after 26 years as head of the CBA.
CBA is headquartered in Alsónémedi and began franchising in 2005.
8. BIM (Birlesik Magazalar)
Country: Turkey
Location: 6, 122
Employees: 41,993
Headquartered in Istanbul, BIM operates a range of retail stores offering food and consumer goods. Founded in 1995, the company currently has branches in Turkey, Morocco and Egypt.
BIM is Turkey's leading chain of discount grocery retailers with the largest individual market share of 6.7%. The company had revenue of $4 billion in 2017 and 4.1 million daily customer visits, up 23.5 percent from the previous year.
7. Ahold Delheez
Country: Netherlands
Location: 6,637
Number of employees: 370,000
In 1867, the Delheitz brothers opened a family-run wholesale grocery store in Belgium. Twenty years later, in the Netherlands, Albert Heijn and his wife opened a small grocery store in Oostzaan, and this is where Ahold originated. The slogan they adopted was "cheap enough for people on the street, good enough for millionaires".
After nearly 150 years in operation, the two companies merged in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize, one of the world's largest supermarket chains, serving more than 50 million shoppers in the United States, Europe and Indonesia every week.
Ahold Delhaize operates in a total of 11 countries, has 10 different store formats, and totals $2.67 billion in online sales. The company reported revenue of $70.9 billion in 2017.
6. Tesco
Country: United Kingdom
Location: 6,800
Employees: 445,311
In 1919, Jack Cohen began selling the remaining groceries in london's East End. He later worked with supplier T.E. Stockwell offers their own brand of tea, "Tesco" (a merger of their names). By 1929, the first Tesco store opened, offering dry goods in north London. Before the opening of the first Tesco supermarket in 1958, there would be more than 25 years of expansion.
Today, in addition to banking and petrol services, Tesco operates supermarkets in 13 countries. Tesco serves more than 500,000 customers per week with online business and reporting revenue of $75.4 billion in 2017.
Tesco opened the world's first zero-carbon supermarket in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire in 2010 as part of the company's commitment to become a zero-carbon company by 2050.
5. Liddell
Location: 10,000
Number of employees: 315,000
In 1973, the first modern Lidl grocery store opened in Ludwigshafen, about 25 miles south of Frankfurt. Three employees offer approximately 500 products. The expansion of the 1990s saw branches outside of Germany and eventually spread throughout Europe. By the 2000s, Lidl had become the UK's leading retailer.
With its recent expansion into the U.S. in 2017, Lidl now operates in 27 countries with revenues of $28.2 billion. About 90% of the products Lidl offers in its supermarkets are under their own private label.
4. Carrefour
Country: France
Location: 10, 103
Employees: 378,923
Carrefour Supermarket is headquartered in Boulogne-Billancour and was founded in 1959 by the Fournier, Badin and Deforey families. After merging with the Promodès Retail Group in 1999, Carrefour (Crossroads) became the largest retailer in Europe. Paul-Louis Halley founded and ran Promodès until his death in 2003. The Harley family later spun off their controlling stake in the business in 2008.
Today, Carrefour operates stores in 30 countries and in 1969 innovated the concept of a "hypermarket" (known as Superstore in North America). The company ranks 68th on the Fortune Global 500 list with revenue of $91.2 billion in 2017.
3. Aldi
Location: 10,366
Employees: 162,579
The discount supermarket chain was founded in 1946 by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht after taking over their mother's store, which has been in operation since 1919. The company split into two parts in 1960 and later named ALDI Nord and ALDI Süd. The company began its international expansion in 1967 with the acquisition of the Austrian grocery chain Hofer. In 1973, ALDI Nord continued to grow in the Netherlands.
Today, ALDI has offices in 20 countries, 40 million monthly customer visits, 90% of its products are exclusive to the ALDI brand, and revenue in 2017 was $34.8 billion. Trader Joe's, a well-known supermarket chain in the United States, is a subsidiary of ALDI Nord.
2. Walmart
Country: United States
Location: 11,088
Number of employees: 2,300,000
Walmart, the world's largest company by revenue, began operations in 1962 when Sam Walton opened his first store in Rogers, Arkansas. This was followed by an expansion, and after adding 24 locations, the company was founded as Walmart Stores in 1969.
Walmart went public in 1970 and its stock was priced at $16.50 per share. The first Sam's Supercenter opened in Missouri in 1988 and the company will go global in 1991 through a joint venture with Mexican retail company Cifra. Today, Walmart operates in 27 countries.
Walmart is still controlled by the family, with Sam Walmart's three children being the largest shareholders. Walmart reported $500.3 billion in revenue in 2017 and has 55 different brands, including its e-commerce business, which operates websites in 10 countries.
In 2018, the company changed its name to Walmart Corporation.
1. Crystals
Location: 12,777
Number of employees: 350,000
Adriaan van Well opened the first SPAR store in the Netherlands in 1932 called DESPAR. DESPAR is an acronym for the slogan created by van Well: Door Eendrachtig Samenwerken Profiteren Allen Regelmatig (both benefit from joint collaboration). In 1947, the company expanded internationally to Belgium through a group of wholesalers, culminating in the establishment of SPAR International in 1953. Over the next few decades, SPAR expanded into numerous international markets around the world, including Russia, China, India, Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, SPAR is the world's largest supermarket chain with 12,777 stores.
13.5 million customers are available every day in 48 countries. The company's revenue in 2017 totaled $40 billion.