Retail in Central America and the Caribbean: Three Key Trends for 2024

May 2025

This report covers the retail sector in Central America and the Caribbean. Euromonitor International’s definition of the region includes the following countries:

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Overview:

Understand the latest market trends and future growth opportunities for the Retail industry in Costa Rica with research from Euromonitor International's team of in-country analysts – experts by industry and geographic specialisation.

Key trends are clearly and succinctly summarised alongside the most current research data available. Understand and assess competitive threats and plan corporate strategy with our qualitative analysis, insight and confident growth projections.

Data and analysis in thsi report provides detailed qualitative analysis for the folloiwng regions, with detailed quantitative analaysis provided for all indivdiual countries within the regional groupings:

  • The Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
  • Frontier Markets in Southeast Europe – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia
  • Central Asia and the Caucasus – Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan
  • Frontier Markets in South Asia – Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka 
  • Frontier Markets in Southeast Asia – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar
  • Central America and the Caribbean – Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica
  • Frontier Markets in South America – Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
  • Frontier Markets in the Middle East and North Africa – Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Tunisia
  • Frontier Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa – Angola, Cote d Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Tanzania, Uganda

Data and analysis in this report provides further detailed coverage dedicated to the following key categories, where applicable:

  • Grocery Retailers
  • Non-Grocery Retailers
  • Retail E-Commerce
  • Direct Selling
  • Vending

If you're in the Retail industry in Costa Rica, our research will help you to make informed, intelligent decisions; to recognise and profit from opportunity, or to offer resilience amidst market uncertainty.

The Retail in Costa Rica report includes:

  • Analysis of key retail trends
  • Detailed segmentation of histroic retail value sales by channel
  • Company and brand market shares (retail value sales)
  • Five year forecasts of market trends and market growth
  • Robust and transparent research methodology, conducted in-country

This report answers:

  • What is the market size of Retail in Costa Rica?
  • Which are the leading retailers in Retail in Costa Rica?
  • How are products distributed in Retail in Costa Rica?
  • How is the rise of e-commerce and the expansion of modern grocery retail impacting traditional retail?
  • How significant are discounters and private label in Costa Rica?
  • To what extent are sales shifting towards digital channels?​
  • What is the long-term outlook for bricks-and-mortar? ​
  • How is macroeconomic and political uncertainty affecting the retail industry?​
  • What types of retailers are seeing the fastest growth in digital sales?​
  • What is the future of retail?

Retail in Central America and the Caribbean: Three Key Trends for 2024

Central America and the Caribbean: Overview
Chart 1 Retail in Context 2023
Chart 2 Retail in the Context of Latin America 2018-2023
Retail in 2023: The big picture
Chart 3 Retail Sales 2018-2028
Guatemala continues to lead the region in retail sales
Chart 4 Retail Channel Breakdown by Country 2018-2023
Non-grocery retail bounces back, but e-commerce’s sales growth significantly outstrips that of all other retail channels
Chart 5 Retail Breakdown by Channel 2018-2023
Walmart recommits to its operations in Central America
Retail e-commerce is rapidly developing across Central America and the Caribbean
Informal retail continues to thrive across Central America and the Caribbean
Walmart maintains its position as the leading retailer in Central America and the Caribbean
Chart 6 Top 10 Retail Companies 2018-2023
Fixed price leads sales growth amidst economic pressures
Chart 7 Top Companies by Sales Growth 2018-2023
Local players lead the grocery market in the region
Chart 8 Grocery Retailers: Top Companies 2018-2023
Electronics and appliances specialists lead in non-grocery retail in the region
Chart 9 Non-Grocery Retailers: Top Companies 2018-2023
Direct selling companies have well-established brands in the region
Chart 10 Direct Selling: Top Companies 2018-2023
What next for retail?
Chart 11 The Evolution of Retail 2018-2028
Chart 12 Absolute Growth by Channel 2018-2028
Guatemala will remain the leading retail market in the region for the foreseeable future
Chart 13 Retail: Country Sizes and Growth by Channel 2018-2028
Retail e-commerce will record the highest growth of any channel over the forecast period
Chart 14 Retail: Channel Sizes and Growth by Country 2018-2028
Costa Rica
Chart 15 Costa Rica: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 16 Costa Rica: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 17 Costa Rica: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 18 Costa Rica: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 19 Costa Rica: Company Shares of Direct Selling
Dominican Republic
Chart 20 Dominican Republic: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 21 Dominican Republic: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 22 Dominican Republic: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 23 Dominican Republic: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 24 Dominican Republic: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2023
El Salvador
Chart 25 El Salvador: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 26 El Salvador: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 27 El Salvador: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 28 El Salvador: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 29 El Salvador: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2023
Guatemala
Chart 30 Guatemala: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 31 Guatemala: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 32 Guatemala: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 33 Guatemala: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 34 Guatemala: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2023
Honduras
Chart 35 Honduras: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 36 Honduras: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 37 Honduras: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 38 Honduras: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 39 Honduras: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2023
Panama
Chart 40 Panama: Company Shares of Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 41 Panama: Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 42 Panama: Company Shares of Non-Grocery Retailers 2023
Chart 43 Panama: Non-Grocery Retailers Channel Breakdown 2023 and % CAGR 2018-2023
Chart 44 Panama: Company Shares of Direct Selling 2023

DISCLAIMER

Retail

Retail is the sale of new and used goods to consumers from a business for personal or household consumption from retail outlets, kiosks, market stalls, vending, direct selling and e-commerce. Retail is the aggregation of Retail Offline and Retail E-Commerce. Excludes specialist retailers of motor vehicles, motorcycles, vehicle parts. Also excludes fuel sales, foodservice sales, rental transactions, and wholesale sales (e.g. Cash and Carry). Sales value excluding or including VAT/Sales Tax. Retail also excludes the informal retail sector. Informal retailing is retail trade which is not declared to the tax authorities. Informal retailing encompasses (a) sales generated by unregistered and unlicensed retailers, i.e. retailers operating illegally, and (b) any proportion of sales generated by a registered and licensed retailer that is not declared to the tax authorities. Unregistered and unlicensed retailers operate predominantly (although not exclusively) as street hawkers or operate open market stalls, as these channels are harder for the authorities to monitor than permanent outlets. Activities in the illegal market, which is usually understood to refer to trade in illegal, counterfeit or stolen merchandise, are included within our definition of informal retailing. Activities in the “grey market”, which is usually understood to refer to trade in legal merchandise that is sold through unauthorized channels – for example cigarettes bought legally in another country, legally imported, but sold at lower prices than in authorized channels – will be included as informal retailing if no tax is paid on sale by the retailer. However if the retailer pays tax – for example on cigarettes bought legally in another country but sold at a lower price than standard – the sale is included within formal retail.

See all of our definitions
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This report originates from Passport, our Retail research and analysis database.

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