It is the largest company in the Philippines in terms of market capitalization, and has repeatedly ranked as the top Philippine company in the Forbes Global 2000.

In 1958, Henry Sy started his first company, ShoeMart (SM), a small shoe store in Carriedo, Manila. He initially focused on buying large supplies of shoes from the United States. His business expanded as he transformed his shoe store into a department store.

At this point, Sy set up his second company, SM Department Store Inc., and began selling stocks to department stores. In 1978, he began buying supermarkets at the northern end of EDSA in Quezon City. During the 90s when he opened SM Megamall, his companies were listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange, SM Prime Holdings Inc. By 2005, the SM Investments Corporation was inaugurated.

SM Investments Corporations' shopping malls which are branded as "SM Supermalls" are operated by its subsidiary, SM Prime Holdings. The conglomerate's other retail business are under its subsidiary, SM Retail which owns SM Markets (comprising SM Supermarket, SM Hypermarket, and Savemore), The SM Store, and various other local retail brands.