Modern markets are marked by the processes of internationalization of retail business. In such an environment, the dynamism of retail and retail formats is necessary, and this dynamic is the main motivation for choosing a topic. The aim of this paper is to define the concept of retail, to explore the retail structure and its most important features with special reference to retail formats. The analysis of retail shows that large retail formats have recently become dominant in most European countries. During the preparation of this paper, professional books from the field of globalization, retail, retail management and articles from the same areas found by searching professional databases and the Internet will be used. The research will be conducted with the help of statistical data on certain factors that have influenced and are influencing the development of the retail structure in Croatia and individual countries of the European Union. The data to be used in the survey will be secondary data from the "Euromonitor" and "Planetretail" websites as well as data from the "Državni zavod za statistiku". Based on the research, the paper will compare the retail structure and its development in the Republic of Croatia as well as in the three European Union countries with which Croatia will be compared. The basic trends of the retail structure will be presented on the basis of the above examples, and future forecasts for the development of the retail structure will be highlighted. The result of the research will give a sharp-cut picture of the change in retail structure with special emphasis on the development of retail formats and the results will be used to define recommendations to retail management to achieve better results in today's dynamic environment.