The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) was launched on 06/19/2006, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market.While an excellent vehicle for long term investors, passively managed ETFs are a popular choice among institutional and retail investors due to their low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency.Sector ETFs are also funds of convenience, offering many ways to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Consumer Discretionary - Retail is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.Index DetailsThe fund is sponsored by State Street Global Advisors. It has amassed assets over $1.21 billion, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market. XRT seeks to match the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.The S&P Retail Select Industry Index represents the retail sub-industry portion of the S&P TMI. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Retail Index is a modified equal weight index.CostsInvestors should also pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio. Lower cost products will produce better results than those with a higher cost, assuming all other metrics remain the same.Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.67%.Sector Exposure and Top HoldingsEven though ETFs offer diversified exposure which minimizes single stock risk, it is still important to look into a fund's holdings before investing. Luckily, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector--about 88.90% of the portfolio. Consumer Staples and Telecom round out the top three.Looking at individual holdings, Revolve Group Inc Class A (RVLV) accounts for about 1.27% of total assets, followed by Buckle Inc. (BKE) and Etsy Inc. (ETSY).The top 10 holdings account for about 11.64% of total assets under management.Performance and RiskYear-to-date, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF return is roughly 54.45% so far, and was up about 126.53% over the last 12 months (as of 07/12/2021). XRT has traded between $43.10 and $98.18 in this past 52-week period.The ETF has a beta of 1.40 and standard deviation of 32.06% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 108 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.AlternativesSPDR S&P Retail ETF holds a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Because of this, XRT is a great option for investors seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. There are other additional ETFs in the space that investors could consider as well.ProShares Online Retail ETF (ONLN) tracks PROSHARES ONLINE RETAIL INDEX and the Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY) tracks EQM Online Retail Index. ProShares Online Retail ETF has $1.14 billion in assets, Amplify Online Retail ETF has $1.32 billion. ONLN has an expense ratio of 0.58% and IBUY charges 0.65%.Bottom LineTo learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center. Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases. Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT): ETF Research Reports Buckle, Inc. The (BKE): Free Stock Analysis Report Etsy, Inc. (ETSY): Free Stock Analysis Report Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY): ETF Research Reports ProShares Online Retail ETF (ONLN): ETF Research Reports Revolve Group, Inc. (RVLV): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.