Decathlon, JD Sports and lululemon make NRF global top

Decathlon, JD Sports and lululemon are the three sporting goods retailers to appear in the 2026 edition of the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Kantar’s annual ranking of the world’s most impactful international retailers, released April 10. The list covers retail operations as of early 2025, with company data reviewed between January and March 2026.

Decathlon holds the strongest position among the three sporting goods names on the list, placing at No. 33. The French retailer reported $17 billion in total company revenues with 1,853 stores worldwide. JD Sports comes in at No. 37 with $14 billion in revenues and 6,004 stores — the largest store network of the three. lululemon appears at No. 42, reporting $10 billion in revenues across 765 locations.

The methodology measures international reach, not revenue alone

The ranking does not sort companies by total revenues, which would push specialist sport retailers well behind grocery and general merchandise giants. Instead, the Kantar methodology awards points based on the scale and breadth of each retailer’s international direct selling operations relative to its domestic business. To qualify, a company must hold a direct retail investment in at least three countries, one of which cannot be adjacent to its home market. Offshore tax havens and territories are excluded.

That design makes the list a useful proxy for genuine cross-border commercial ambition: it distinguishes retailers that have built international company-owned networks from those relying primarily on wholesale or licensing structures.

Tariff volatility in 2025 forced rapid strategic adjustments

The year under review was defined by macro instability. For sporting goods retailers with significant international exposure — JD Sports in particular, which has built a large presence across North America alongside its UK and European base — those shifts added both sourcing complexity and pricing pressure at a time when consumer spending was already under strain.

The distance between sport retail and the mass merchant giants remains wide

The full ranking is led by Walmart ($692 billion in revenues, 10,816 stores, 509 ranking points) and Amazon ($422 billion, 620 stores, 397 points). For comparison, Decathlon’s 27 ranking points and lululemon’s 20 place them far down the scale — a structural reality of single-category specialization, which limits addressable revenue regardless of global reach.

What the three sporting goods entries collectively illustrate is that focused sport retail formats can achieve international footprints significant enough to appear alongside mass merchants, grocery chains and fast fashion giants in a ranking of the world’s 50 most impactful global retailers. In a list that leans heavily toward food, drug and mass merchandise, that presence carries its own signal.