Amazon remains the most valuable retail brand

The results, published by WPP and Kantar in conjunction with the World Retail Congress, show that Amazon increased its value by 32% to a total brand value of $415.9bn.

This was $272bn more than second place in the survey, the Chinese e-commerce and retail firm Alibaba, which had a value of $152.5bn.

The ranking was dominated by retail, luxury and fast food brands, with McDonald’s taking third place with a value of $129.3bn and The Home Depot ($57.6bn) and Louis Vuitton ($51.8bn) rounding out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 included Nike ($50bn), Starbucks ($47.8bn), Walmart ($45.8bn) and the luxury brands Chanel ($36.1bn) and Hermès ($33bn).

Athletic apparel company Lululemon, which was ranked the 25th most valuable brand at $9.7bn, registered the biggest increase in brand value with a rise of 40%.

The top 75 brands grew 12% in value to $1.5tn in the past year, according to the research.

The study incorporated stock price data from April 2020, which the firm said would reflect some of the impact of Covid-19 on the biggest brands.

According to the analysis, stronger retailers learnt lessons from China, where brands that “went dark” in terms of advertising during the Covid-19 lockdown struggled to reconnect with consumers once restrictions were eased.

Historical data from BrandZ also showed that the strongest brands recovered nine times faster after the 2008 financial crisis than other less renowned counterparts.

Graham Staplehurst, global strategy director for BrandZ at Kantar, said: “How retailers behave now in terms of helping people through the crisis, as well as the way in which they treat their staff and whether they comply with government and health advice, will be important to their survival.

“Those that have actively demonstrated their relevance and usefulness and continue to do so as consumers’ lives start to get back to normal, will be best-placed to strengthen customer relationships both in the recovery phase and the long-term.”