摘要：Background: The paper analyzes a significance of distributive trade in contemporary national economies of select European countries (10) from the point of view of employment, gross value-added creation, supply chain establishment, and international expansion. A cause for the paper is a dissatisfactory level of economic development of certain transitional countries on one side and the high distributive trade shares (especially in the number of employees and in the GDP) on the other side. Methods: Distributive trade's significance for a country is analyzed entirely and segmental. The data collected by Eurostat and Deloitte are analyzed and depicted graphically via usual statistical methods (relative numbers, indices and shares, tabulation and graphical depictions). Results: The results of the research conducted should confirm a thesis on distributive trade's significance based on its shares in the economic structure; however, as an integrator in the value-creating chains, distributive trade has different significance for certain national economies, for the large-sized companies and groups (especially the retailing ones) are also expanded internationally, along with their supply chains. Conclusions: Distributive trade does not have an equal significance for the economic development in all countries. Equally, all the divisions within distributive trade do not have equal significance for the overall country's economy, as well as for a launch of its economic development. Nevertheless, it should be necessary to analyze concentration and internationalization in detail for the sake of an evaluation of distributive trade's significance as an integrator in value-creating chains. In that respect, some transitional countries observed do lag behind.
关键词：distributive trade; wholesale trade; retail trade; number of employees; supply chains
