The United States has one of the largest retail markets of any country in the world and many of the world's largest retail companies are located there. Over the last couple of decades,
have grown considerably, from just under three trillion U.S. dollars in 2000 to more than seven trillion dollars in 2022. This was an increase of more than 500 billion dollars from the previous year, and growth is expected to continue over the coming years, albeit at a slower rate, reaching roughly 7.9 trillion U.S. dollars in
.
General merchandise
One of the largest sectors within the United States retail market is general merchandise. This sector is comprised of stores which do not specialize in one type of product, but offer a wide range or consumer goods, from apparel to electronics, to home furnishings. These are stores such as
department stores,
dollar stores, or big box retailers. In 2022,
general merchandise stores made sales of approximately 852 billion U.S. dollars, continuing the pattern of constant year-on-year growth since 2009. In comparison,
clothing and clothing accessories store sales amounted to roughly 312 billion dollars in the same year.
Amazon vs. Walmart
Two of the largest retailers in the United States are
Amazon and
Walmart. Amazon is undoubtedly the leading company in the e-commerce market, with a 38 percent
share of the U.S. online market in 2022, and
net e-commerce sales of close to 126 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. Amazon was far ahead of second-placed Walmart in both of these metrics. However, while Amazon was the leading online retailer, Walmart was the
top U.S. retailer overall in 2022, based on retail sales. Founded by Sam Walton in Arkansas in the sixties, Walmart is one of the largest retail corporations in the United States and the world. The company generated an estimated 499 billion U.S. dollars’ worth of retail sales in the United States, which was more than double the amount generated by Amazon.com that year.
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