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THE Asia-Pacific retail industry posted healthy growth despite the global recession that hit last year, according to the sixth edition of the Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500.
The annual list, compiled by Euromonitor International, ranks the top 500 retail companies in the region. It covers 14 economies - Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.
Surprisingly, the region's top 500 retailers chalked up combined sales of US$717 billion in 2008 - a 13.5 per cent increase from 2007.
'One possible reason is that Asia-Pacific retailers had not yet felt the full brunt of the economic crisis,' said Steven Goh, executive chairman of Retail Asia.
'They were riding on a fairly bullish consumer market in the first three quarters of the year, producing sufficient volume to cushion them against the dampening effects of the economic downturn in Q4.'
Three markets continue to dominate the rankings - Japan with 119 retailers China (95 retailers) and Australia (62 retailers). Combined, these retailers account for about 80 per cent of the value of retail value sales generated by the region's leading 500 retailers.
In Singapore, the top five retail companies were Dairy Farm International Holdings, NTUC Fairprice, Sheng Siong Supermarket, Takashimaya (Singapore) and Robinson & Co respectively.
All five saw their sales grow in 2008 from 2007. Dairy Farm, which has 624 outlets in Singapore across brands such as 7-Eleven, Guardian, Giant and Cold Storage, saw sales grow to US$1.19 billion last year, from US$1.06 billion in 2007.
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