Global businesses had a successful 2012 fiscal year (June 2012 through June 2013), according to retail reports. The Deloitte report found that the top 250 retailers earned increased revenues totaling $4.3 trillion, despite difficult market conditions. Increased consumer spending, opportunities in developing economies and ecommerce were the major factors that contributed to success for the global retail industry.

"This has served to provide a much needed boost to global revenues with nearly 80 percent of the top 250 (199 companies) retailers posting an increase in retail revenue," said Dr. Ira Kalish, Deloitte's Chief Global Economist. "[S]ome of the top retailers undertook a series of sell-offs in order to remain profitable and ride out the tough trading period."

Emerging markets were a stronghold for businesses based in those economies and for European companies. According to the report, retailers in developing markets comprised over half of the 50 fastest-growing retailers, including Russian, African, Middle Eastern and Latin American companies. Europe's market is still struggling – four European countries were added to the International Monetary Fund's financial risk list, and Germany's economy is growing slowly. Consequently, Deloitte indicated, foreign markets have become increasingly important for European companies.

Ecommerce accounted for about one-third of sales for the top 50 etrade companies, the report found. The majority of these companies used a multichannel retail marketing strategy, demonstrating the efficacy of combining traditional store operations with online marketing efforts.

This entry was posted by Retail Pro on Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 at 12:03 pm .