Global Retail Market: Asia-Pacific Takes the Lead

Asia will continue to lead growth in the global grocery retailing sector, according to the latest forecast by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD). 

The global grocery retail market is expected to create US$2.7 trillion in sales over the next five years, with growth dominated by the market in Asia.

Asia region’s grocery retail industry will be significantly boosted by a rising population and increasing shopper spend, with consumer spending in the region accounting for nearly half of additional sales generated to 2022. 

The global report predicted a positive outlook for the global retailing sector over the coming years. 

“Our new global grocery forecasts reveal a positive outlook for the sector as we predict that most regions will experience faster growth to 2022 than forecast in 2016, representing excellent opportunities for retailers and manufacturers,” said Jon Wright, head of retail Insight at IGD. Mr. Wright was quoted on FDF World.

“However, an awareness of the underlying causes of growth in each region is key. Despite it being set to experience the strongest uplift, growth in Africa’s grocery market will be primarily driven by inflation rather than increased consumer spend. The most attractive and sustainable growth opportunities are in markets where sales increase will be due to population growth or consumers spending more money – for example, Asia, Latin America and North America,” he said.

Ecommerce is an increasingly large factor in overall retail sales for Asia-Pacific as buyers continue to increase their spending online. Retail ecommerce sales – which include products and services (except travel, restaurant, and event ticket sales) ordered on the internet via any device – will total $1.365 trillion in 2017, up 29.6 percent over 2016. Ecommerce will account for 14.7% of total retail sales in Asia-Pacific this year and will climb to 25.4 percent by 2021.