Industry Overview
The Business
The US retail industry is comprised of approximately 1 million outlets generating more than $4 trillion in sales per year. While large companies such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Macy’s reign over some categories, others categories (such as apparel accessories and convenience stores) are fragmented. Many specialty retailers are single-store or single-market operations.
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Specialty Retailing
Specialization differentiates retailers; in the US there are some 400,000 stores that generate $350 million in sales that are considered to be specialty retail. Unlike their general retail counterparts, which offer a wide range of product types (categories), specialty shops focus on one category. Often these operations focus on an even finer slice of a category. For, example shoe stores often focus on a particular gender (women, children, men); end use (dress/casual, athletic); or price range.
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Convenience Stores
Convenience stores have a unique fit in the overall retail market. They focus more on the customer experience, in particular item availability and speed of complete transaction, than merchants in the other segments. With some 144,000 locations this segment rings up $350 billion per year in sales.
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Retail segment: sector relationship map
