Largest four grocery retailers accounted for 37 percent of U.S. grocery sales in 2009

A chart showing the largest 4, 8, and 20 firms' share of U.S. grocery store sales, years 1992 to 2009.

U.S. sales by the 20 largest food retailers totaled $404.2 billion in 2009, amounting to 64.2 percent of U.S. grocery store sales, an increase from 39.2 percent in 1992. Although shares held by the largest 4, 8, and 20 supermarket and supercenter retailers decreased slightly from 2008 to 2009, the longer term trend shows an increasing concentration of sales among the Nation's largest grocery retailers. Contributing factors to these increases over the past decade include mergers and acquisitions among food retailers and the rapid growth of Wal-Mart supercenters. This chart is from ERS's Food Marketing System in the U.S. briefing room, November 2010.


Download larger size chart (389 pixels by 312, 72 dpi)