The European Retail Rankings focusses on the leading retailers in Europe and puts them in perspective. This is a report where the numbers are all important, though we also give some background information both by sector and by country. We provide a three-year record of the main statistics (in so far as they are available) with a summary table of the 350 leading retailers in Europe as well as where those retailers operate and what sectors they operate in.

The cut off point is sales of €432 million this year. This is somewhat lower than last year, an indication of the fact that retailers found even the year before COVID-19 difficult but also reflecting some major mergers.

Currency translation is a necessary evil. In theory it should make data comparable and it should iron out changes in relative economic performance, but that is not always the case and fluctuations are inevitable.

Key issues covered in this report:

• The impact of COVID-19 on the European retailing sector.

• Winners and losers in the retail sector.

• The leading players in European retail by sales.

• Information on profits, number of outlets and sales densities for the leading players.

• Breakdown of major players by country and retail sector.

This report provides a snapshot of the leading retailers in Europe, ranked by 2019 revenues translated into Euros at the average rate ruling through the year. We cover the top 350 European retailers and include country and sector sections, which detail those of the top 350 companies that are present in those markets. In the text we cover the main trends by country and sector and the leading retailers in each country and sector as well.

The European Retail Rankings is one of a series of Mintel reports looking at the retail sector across Europe. Its companion, the UK Retail Rankings, provides a comprehensive overview of UK retailers. These reports draw on Mintel’s Retail Interactive database of leading European retailers: all the information in the European Retail Rankings is contained in the database, which is updated on a regular basis.

This report focuses on leading retailers only; for data on the performance of retail sectors across Europe and the macro-economic context, readers are referred to Mintel’s European Retail Handbook: Inc. Impact of COVID-19 - September 2020 or the key sector reports, such as Supermarkets: Inc. Impact of COVID-19 – Europe, November 2020 and Clothing Retailing: Inc. Impact of COVID-19 – Europe, October 2020, and the DIY, Beauty, Electricals and Online Retailing reports of earlier in the year

We focus on the key operational statistics and ratios: sales, profits, store numbers and sales areas. However, many companies do not provide so much information.

There are some companies where we have no option but to estimate figures, for example, those that publish very limited data, such as Aldi or Lidl. We would sometimes rely on directories, such as Dahne Verlag, to help us in such circumstances. In many countries companies are expected to file accounts and we can access those. But they are not always very helpful, especially where the group structure is complicated or the business is primarily a wholesaler and does not provide a retail sales estimate (see Coops and Voluntary groups, below).

For some companies we have also provided estimates for the latest financial year. Where possible, we work with published data and we make no adjustments to allow for different accounting standards. In practice, this means that retail profitability in Germany is probably understated relative to the Netherlands or the UK. But we have no basis to adjust for such discrepancies.

We must emphasise that the majority of data in this report is published. There are some estimates, but we try to avoid estimating where possible and we do not estimate profitability.

Technicalities and accounting practices are dealt with in the Technical Notes. As far as is possible, Mintel has attempted to present corporate data that is comparable, one example of this is by excluding sales tax.

The detailed tables are contained in the accompanying Databook.

Each table in the spreadsheet is structured in the same way. Each company can be identified by its overall ranking in Europe’s top 350 and that helps with cross referencing.

The main tables in the Databook contain the basic data – sales, store numbers and sales per store. There is a link on the main table to a secondary table where we also have operating profits, margins, sales areas and sales densities.

All data is in Euros.

The main elements of the tables are:

• Country or Sector Ranking

• Overall European Retail Ranking

• Company name

• Country of origin (see below)

• Code for trading area (see below, not for country pages)

• Code for main sector of operation (see below, not for sector pages)

• Month of year-end

• Retail sales (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)

• Number of stores (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)

• Sales per store (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20).

The secondary tables contain:

• Operating profit (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)

• Operating margin (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)

• Sales area (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20)

• Sales per sq m (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20).

We include data for any country that a Euro top 350 retailer reveals data for. The data is included in the Databook, though we only include an overview for the following countries:

• Austria

• Belgium

• Czechia

• Denmark

• Estonia

• Finland

• France

• Germany

• Greece

• Ireland

• Italy

• Netherlands

• Norway

• Poland

• Portugal

• Romania

• Russia

• Spain

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Turkey

• UK.

The sectors covered are as follows:

• Clothing and footwear

• DIY

• Electricals

• Food

• Furniture and carpets

• Health & Beauty

• Home shopping

• Miscellaneous specialists

• Mixed goods (includes department stores).