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Magazines Archives - 2008 July
2007 a good year for retailers despite changes in world economy
Story 3 - Top 500 Overview
The 2008 Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500 ranks retailers in 14 Asia-Pacific economies based on their
US-dollar sales turnover for 2007. Now on its fifth year, the ranking continues to highlight companies that have become the movers and shakers in the regions retail sector. Euromonitor Internationals head of research Geok Leng Loo also provides an analysis of the regions dynamic retail scene as well as the challenges that retailers are expected to face.
As we move into the second half of 2008, there is undoubtedly a whiff of uncertainty in the air
globally. Rising food and fuel prices on top of a weakening US dollar have wreaked havoc on inflation
across the world. The world is keeping its eyes trained on China for the upcoming Beijing
Olympics in August 2008 and the US for its presidential elections in November 2008.
At the same time, the credit crunch brought about by the subprime crisis has kept us on tenterhooks as to when a recession will be declared in the US which will have repercussions on the world.
Without a doubt, consumer confidence was higher a mere year ago, which is reflected in the 2007
performance of the Top 500 retailers in the Asia-Pacific region. Now into its fifth edition, the Retail
Asia-Pacific Top 500 ranks the leading 500 retailers in the region based on US-dollar sales generated in 2007.
Being compiled in US-dollar terms, a caveat worth mentioning before we delve into the ranking is that the Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500 is affected by the weakening greenback with sales growth being artificially inflated in 2007.
Not surprisingly, a total of 313 entries in the 2008 edition of the Retail Asia-Pacific Top 500 are
accrued to Japan (120), China (89), Australia (66) and South Korea (38).
These four economies accounted for close to 63% of the entries in the ranking but more than 88% of retail value sales generated by the leading 500 retailers in the region. The next six countries New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Thailand and Singapore accounted for 143 of the 500 entries in the ranking for 2007, while the remaining 44 entries were based on retail operations in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
To read the full article, get a copy of Retail Asia's July 2008 issue. To subscribe, please download the subscription form from http://www.retailasiaonline.com/files/RA-SubscriptionForm-Nor.pdf
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