market share

noun

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Examples: market share in a Sentence

Definition of market share

: the percentage of the market for a product or service that a company supplies

See market share defined for English-language learners

Examples of market share in a Sentence

The company has gained market share in the past year.
companies working to increase their market shares

Recent Examples of market share from the Web

For the 13 weeks ended May 26, the U.K.’s biggest grocer by market share said group like-for-like sales growth was 1.8% compared with 1% growth a year earlier.

— maryam cockar, WSJ, "Tesco Sales Grow 1.8%," 15 June 2018
Thirty-three of the branches are in Indiana, including 26 branches in Fort Wayne, where Flagstar will become No. 1 in local market share.

— paul gores, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Flagstar Bank to buy 52 Midwest branches, including 4 in Wisconsin, from Wells Fargo," 5 June 2018
After Google and Amazon, Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Xiaomi were listed as third and fourth in quarterly market share, respectively.

— jeff dunn, Ars Technica, "Google zooms by Amazon in smart speaker shipments, report says," 25 May 2018
As this episode shows, companies will flog even the most dubious published data to boost their market share.

— adam marcus, STAT, "Surgical device firm demands the retraction of a study paid for by its rival," 8 May 2018
The business was in chaos; Uber lost about 10 points in North American market share in less than a year.

— jessi hempel, WIRED, "Uber's New Direction: Move Slow and Test Things," 19 Apr. 2018
Recently, Postmates and DoorDash discussed a merger as a way to fight back against GrubHub (which includes Seamless and Eat24) and Uber Eats, which dwarf them in market share.

— rani molla, Recode, "Uber Eats is the fastest-growing meal delivery service in the U.S.," 18 Apr. 2018
In outpatient visits, the Beth Israel Deaconess-Lahey system would have a 26 percent market share, while Partners would have 26.7 percent.

— priyanka dayal mccluskey, BostonGlobe.com, "State health officials endorse Beth Israel-Lahey merger," 6 Mar. 2018
Taylor rattled off a list of product innovations in recent years that caught on with consumers, boosted market share and are helping grow sales.

— alexander coolidge, Cincinnati.com, "P&G faces new dangers in 2018. 'Progress will not come in a straight line,' says CEO David Taylor," 22 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'market share.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of market share

1954

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Financial Definition of MARKET SHARE

market share

noun

What It Is

Market share refers to a company's portion of sales within the entire market in which it operates. This metric indicates a company's size within its market.

How It Works

The formula for market share is:

Market Share = (Particular Company's Sales Revenue in Time Period X) / (Relevant Market's Total Sales Revenue in Time Period X)

Let's assume Company XYZ sells $50 million a year in widgets. If the total amount of widgets sold from all companies within the market totals $100 million, then Company XYZ has a market share equal to 50%.

Market Share = ($50 million) / ($100 million)

Why It Matters

As the market for a good or service grows, many analysts view the maintenance or increase in market share as a sign of a company's competitiveness. Increases in market share might come from innovation, broadening demographic appeal, lower prices, or simply advertising.

Sometimes a company garners too much market share and becomes part of an oligopoly or even becomes a monopoly. If this is the case, it could violate anti-trust laws and be ordered to divest assets or take some other action to increase competition.

Source: Investing Answers