market share

noun

Definition of market share

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

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 on the Web

Apple has struggled to crack the Indian market, with its already small market share dropping last year to about 1% from about 2% in 2017. — WSJ, "Foxconn Looks Beyond China to India for iPhone Assembly," 22 Jan. 2019 As a result, SolarCity has gone from cornering 33.5 percent of the US' residential solar panel market share to holding on to just 9.1 percent of the same market, according to Wood Mackenzie's numbers. — Megan Geuss, Ars Technica, "Tesla’s SolarCity lost ground to Sunrun in 2018," 21 Dec. 2018 Obviously, a lot of our competitors surged at the time and started to catch us in the various markets in terms of market share. — Eric Johnson, Recode, "Wearables pioneer Jawbone is back with a new mission: Warning you about health problems you didn’t know you had," 26 Sep. 2018 After Google vacated, Baidu absorbed its market share for a total of over 70 percent of the Chinese market. — Shannon Liao, The Verge, "Baidu CEO says it will defeat Google if it returns to China," 7 Aug. 2018 Tapping this resource at home would catapult U.S. production closer to China levels, which now account for 90 percent of the market share. — Jill Kiedaisch, Popular Mechanics, "We've Found a New Source for Rare-Earth Elements We Need for Green Tech," 7 Mar. 2019 Those chains, which are less dependent on apparel, and Amazon.com Inc. have been taking market share from department stores. — Sarah Nassauer, WSJ, "Strong Economy Can’t Save Macy’s From Retail Shifts," 10 Jan. 2019 Under Armour launched a little under a year ago, and that’s been taking some market share away. — Ashley Carman, The Verge, "Verizon and AT&T have vastly different ideas about phone cases," 14 Aug. 2018 As companies spend an increasing amount on travel and expenses, online disruptors have sprung up to take market share from entrenched travel industries. — Rani Molla, Recode, "Here are five hidden trends in corporate America’s travel and expenses as online services take over," 26 July 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.

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Last Updated

24 Apr 2019

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The first known use of market share was in 1954

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More Definitions for market share

market share

noun

Financial Definition of market share

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

market share

noun