SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is on track to become the world's second-largest retailer within four years, according to research published yesterday.
The UK's biggest supermarket is expected to deliver annual sales of $157.1 billion (£106.7bn) by 2012, overtaking French retailer Carrefour and only ranking it behind world leader Wal-Mart, according to international grocery market expert IGD.
It
s latest report predicts that international expansion in markets such as China and India will help Tesco to grow its turnover by two-thirds between 2007 and 2012 despite the economic turmoil.
However, IGD said retailers would face a "challenging" next few years as the world slips into recession and consumers clamp down on spending.
Emerging markets are not expected to be immune to the slowdown, but the pace of growth is still set to far outstrip that in the developed world.
IGD is forecasting annual growth of 13.2 per cent between 2008 and 2012 for grocery markets in China and India.
But Tesco recently reported that the downturn was forcing it to slow down the pace of growth in some areas.
Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of Tesco, said on unveiling third-quarter sales figures earlier this month that the group would put the brakes on US expansion plans. He added that it would "temper" growth in hard-hit countries, such as Hungary, Turkey and Ireland.
The group reported UK like-for-like sales growth of 2 per cent in the 13 weeks to November 22 – its slowest growth since the last recession.
But its international business saw total sales rise by 14 per cent at constant exchange rates.
Joanne Denney-Finch, IGD's chief executive, said: "The next few years are likely to be challenging for the leading global retailers, yet all are well placed to achieve further growth, particularly internationally.
"Scale alone will not determine who will win in today's global trading environment."
