17 Retail Brands With Highest Brand Loyalty

We took a look on Wednesday at the new 2016 Brand Loyalty survey results and the 20 brands at the top of the rankings. Of the 100 brands included in the study, conducted annually by brand consulting firm Brand Keys, 35 were involved in some way with digital technology or social networking brands.

The 35 brands were the largest sub-group of the top brands, but the next largest was retail with 17 brands among the top 100. At the top of the group was Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), which ranked second among all 100 brands, trailing only Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google search brand. Number two in retail was Zappos, an Amazon subsidiary best known for selling shoes.

Brand Keys looked at 635 brands in 72 categories, of which retail was represented by six categories and 40 brands. That nearly half of all retail brands made it into the top 100 testifies to the loyalty generated by retailers.

Some huge retail brands are surprisingly missing from the top 100. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), for example is absent, though its Sam’s Club stores made the list, while Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) dropped off after placing on the 2015 list.

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Robert Passikoff, founder and president of Brand Keys noted, “The kind of loyalty generated by retail brands that pay attention to real emotional expectations makes it hard for others to break into the top 100.”

Here are the top 17 retail brands from the Brand Keys survey. Their position in the top 100 is provided as well.

1. Amazon: [2]
2. Zappos: [20]
3. Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL): [24]
4. Sephora (LVMH): [26]
5. Trader Joe’s: [37]
6. Sam’s Club: [47]
7. Old Navy from Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS): [53]
8. Victoria’s Secret from L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB): [58]
9. eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY): [64]
10. Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM): [67]
11. T.J. Maxx from the TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX): [69]
12. J. Crew: [70]
13. Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST): [77]
14. Forever 21: [83]
15. Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD): [84]
16. Gap: [93]
17. Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW): [99]

The retail brand making the largest gains this year was Ralph Lauren, up 19 positions.

Other categories with sizable shares in the top 100 were beverages (9%), automotive (8%) and cosmetics (8%).

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