The European Union and the United States represent two of the strongest global regions where is placed the most part of the global distributive trade. Therefore, this study aims to explore and present a comparison of the level of development, structure, and global trends in the distributive trade, in EU and in US. The first part of the study deals with the level of development and the structure of the distributive trade in EU and in US, and with comparing the level of development and the structure of the distributive trade in these two global regions. After that, the study deals with comparative analysis of global trends in the distributive trade, of the EU and of the US (modernization of retail formats, increase the participation of retail with its own brand, the concentration of trade, internationalization of the retail trade). Although comparative analysis shows that there are certain differences in the level of development of distributive trade, sectoral structure of distributive trade is quite similar in the US and in the EU. Comparative analysis of global trends shows larger intensity of global trends in the distributive trade of the EU than in the US.

Ishak Mesic has obtained his degree of Doctor of Economic Sciences in 2005. He works as a professor in the Department of Marketing, at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Zenica. He published six books and over 40 papers and articles published in domestic and international journals. Participated in the development of several projects.