Woolworths and Coles supermarkets have been ranked among Asia’s top retail brands according to a new study by from Interbrand, author of the annual Best Global Brands ranking.
Both demonstrated strong growth, with Woolworths topping the list as the most valuable retail brand in Asia, reporting a brand value just shy of $5bn USD.
Coles have been making promising moves to challenge its long-time rival, crossing the $4bn mark for the first time.
The global Best Retail Brands report ranks the top 50 North American retail brands, the top 50 European retail brands, the top 30 Asia-Pacific retail brands and the top 20 Latin American retail brands by brand value.
Walmart cleaned up as the top ranked retail brand in North America and internationally, with its European, Asia-Pacific and Latin American subsets also achieving top ranked status.
Though the success of our major supermarket come as no major surprise, the report found a mixed bag of results for Australia’s biggest retail brands.
Consumer confidence is on the rise as reflected by the most highly ranked companies, whilst others lag behind as a result of a shrinking middle-market for many consumer goods.
Thinking digital has been a key concern for retail brands and the most tech-savvy have been rewarded, whilst those who failed to embrace digital strategies have fallen behind.
“Adapting retail formats to accommodate the shift in consumer preferences for e-commerce is proving to be the key to success for many retailers worldwide,” said Jez Frampton, Interbrand’s Global Chief Executive Officer.
Taken as a whole, Wesfarmers and Woolworths dominate six of the top ten spots in Australian retail, reflecting the concentration of the market and perhaps explaining the slow rate of innovation in the Australian retail sector compared with counterparts overseas.
However, the growing share of ALDI and Costco in the Australian Market may yet spur the retail giants to up their game in competing for their share Australian’s wallets.
Harvey Norman, Myer, David Jones & Target are all brands that have declined again in 2014 reflecting not just increased competition from overseas and a strong Australian dollar, but also that they have largely not kept pace with changing consumer expectations and desires.
Damian Borchok Australian CEO of Interbrand says Australia’s department store’s continued underperformance will unlikely be solved by the merger of Myer and David Jones.
The report also found Kmart and JB HiFi as highly ranked, proving that focus and coherence across stores, product ranges and communications creates a compelling difference to customers.
