Retail
Ranked: The Fastest Growing and Declining Retail Brands, from 2019-2020
The Fastest Growing and Declining Retail Brands in 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak has led to the savage disruption of retail the world over.
Almost overnight, foot traffic in physical stores disappeared, and supply chains were left scrambled. Now at a major fork in the road, many retailers are forced to make tough decisions that were completely unforeseen.
While some global retail giants are laying down their weapons and filing for bankruptcy, others are innovating to save themselves, serving their customers in new and unexpected ways.
Today’s graphic uses data from Kantar’s Brand Z™ report to illustrate the retailers that are growing through adversity, and those that may struggle to survive.
Editor’s note: The report compares brand value of the top 75 retailers globally between 2020 and 2019, using mid-April as a cut-off date for incorporating latest financial information. Some early effects of the pandemic are incorporated in these calculations, but the pandemic’s impact on retail going forward is uncertain.
Retailers Rising to the Top
The calculation of brand value refers to the total amount that a brand contributes to the overall business value of the parent company.
In this case, it is measured by taking the financial value of a brand (latest data as of mid-April), and multiplying it by the brand’s contribution, or the ability of the brand to deliver value to the company by predisposing consumers to choose the brand over others or pay more for it, based purely on perceptions.
Based on these metrics, activewear brand lululemon is the world’s fastest growing retail brand for the second year running. Famous for its culture of accountability and global community events, the brand has struck the perfect balance between a seamless online and offline experience.
Explore the 10 fastest growing retail brands of 2020 below:
Brand | Brand Value 2020 | Brand Value % Change 2020 Vs. 2019 | Category | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
lululemon | $9.7B | 40% | Apparel | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Costco | $28.7B | 35% | Retail | 🇺🇸 United States |
Amazon | $415.9B | 32% | Retail | 🇺🇸 United States |
Target | $10.6B | 32% | Retail | 🇺🇸 United States |
Walmart | $45.8B | 24% | Retail | 🇺🇸 United States |
JD.com | $25.5B | 24% | Retail | 🇨🇳 China |
Sam’s Club | $6.8B | 19% | Retail | 🇺🇸 United States |
Alibaba | $152.5B | 16% | Retail | 🇨🇳 China |
Tanishq | $2.8B | 15% | Retail | 🇮🇳 India |
Flipkart | $4.7B | 14% | Retail | 🇮🇳 India |
Interestingly, Walmart holds three spots in the ranking as it also owns Flipkart and Sam’s Club. Moreover, the American retail giant purchased a stake in Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com, which has grown from 5% to 12%.
The two brands entered the strategic partnership together with the goal of dominating the Chinese market and surpassing Alibaba.
The Recipe for Retail Success
While every retailer has a unique growth strategy, according to the authors of the report, there are three factors that are undeniably crucial for success.
- Value: Offering value for money through fair pricing for all products or services.
- Uniqueness: Having a clear purpose and standing for something that consumers find meaningful.
- Premium: Being perceived as being worth more than the price consumers pay.
Further, research also suggests that successful brands dominate their respective category when it comes to brand awareness and consistently provide experiences that enrich their customers’ lives, as demonstrated by lululemon.
As retailers continue to shift their focus towards digital transformation, consumers are still finding great value in having the best of both worlds when it comes to combining e-commerce and brick-and-mortar, otherwise known as “brick and click”.
Retailers Struggling to Stay Relevant
Unfortunately, there are several brands that haven’t yet mastered this winning combination, and the ruthless pandemic economy has only emphasized their struggles.
Here are the 10 fastest declining retail brands of 2020:
Brand | Brand Value 2020 | Brand Value % Change 2020 Vs. 2019 | Category | Country |
---|---|---|---|---|
Under Armour | $2.6B | -34% | Apparel | 🇺🇸 United States |
H&M | $4.7B | -27% | Apparel | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
Walgreens | $6.8B | -26% | Retail | 🇺🇸 United States |
Tim Hortons | $5.4B | -20% | Fast Food | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Subway | $13.8B | -20% | Fast Food | 🇺🇸 United States |
Burberry | $3.8B | -18% | Luxury | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
M&S | $2.5B | -18% | Retail | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
Uniqlo | $8.2B | -16% | Apparel | 🇯🇵 Japan |
Dunkin' | $2.4B | -15% | Fast Food | 🇺🇸 United States |
The North Face | $2.4B | -14% | Apparel | 🇺🇸 United States |
Under Armour’s distribution relies heavily on third party retailers and department stores, so the brand has understandably been negatively impacted by the mass store closures.
While the brand focuses on expanding its personalized and connected fitness product offerings, it faces huge pressure from powerful competitors such as Nike and Adidas who already dominate this space.
A Rising Tide Lifts All Shipments
2020 has instigated a retail renaissance of epic proportions through accelerated digitization and changing consumer values. Ultimately, some brands will be better positioned than others to benefit from these changes.
As retailers begin reopening for business, they are presented with an opportunity to recalibrate the current retail landscape by setting new standards for the industry.
Misc
Walmart Owns Most of the Supermarkets in Mexico
Walmart’s presence in Mexico is dominant, with over 2,700 stores. How does their store count compare to companies in the region?

Walmart Owns Most of the Supermarkets in Mexico
The U.S. and Mexico have influenced each other in many ways over the course of their history, through both the exchange of culture and the cross-border trade of goods and services. One lesser-known area of overlap between the two nations? Supermarket ownership.
This graphic from Latinometrics ranks supermarket popularity in Mexico by tallying the number of locations per chain, and showing who owns those brands.
Mexico’s Relationship with Walmart
When it comes to supermarkets in Mexico, no single company comes close to matching the reach of Walmart. Also the world’s largest company by revenue, Walmart has over 2,700 stores in the country, including chains it owns such as Sam’s Club and Bodega Aurrera. The latter is both the largest supermarket within the Walmart category, and also the most popular in Mexico.
Bodega Aurrera was first established in the 1970s, two decades before Walmart entered Mexico’s market directly in 1991. The discount store now has some 2,000 locations across the country.
In fact, it’s almost safe to say that Mexico is Walmart’s second home. After the U.S., which has just over 5,000 stores, the greatest number of Walmart stores reside in Mexico. But on a per capita basis, there are more Walmart-owned stores in Mexico. Specifically, there is about one Walmart-owned store per 47,000 Mexicans, compared to 62,000 for Americans.
Country | Number of Walmart Stores |
---|---|
USA | 5,342 |
Mexico | 2,755 |
Central America | 864 |
UK* | 632 |
China | 397 |
Africa | 414 |
Canada | 408 |
Chile | 384 |
Japan* | 328 |
India | 29 |
Source: Walmart.com, Statista (International figures, January 2022), *Japan/UK figures from January 2021
The company’s presence in Mexico is so strong that Walmart’s Mexico division trades separately on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) under the name Walmex. In March of 2022, Walmex had a market cap above 1.3 trillion pesos, or $64 billion.
Supermarkets in Mexico by Revenue Market Share
Overall, with the thousands of stores that they operate, Walmart’s revenue in Mexico gives it a 68% market share within the country’s supermarket industry.
Other American grocery retailers to make the list include H-E-B, a San Antonio-based chain with stores in northeast Mexico, and Costco, which opened its first Mexican location in 1992 as Price Club (before the companies merged).
Sorianna, the next biggest supermarket operator, holds about 15% of the industry’s market share. It is joined by Chedraui, Casa Ley, La Comer, and Alsuper as Mexico’s biggest domestic grocery chains, with some of them also extending their reach into the Southwest United States.
Advertising
Ranked: The Reputation of 100 Major Brands in the U.S.
What comes to mind when you think of a good or bad brand? This poll ranks the brand reputation of 100 major companies in America.

Ranked: The Reputation of 100 Major Brands in the U.S.
Whether you’re a country or a company, brand reputation is crucial. For corporations trying to stand out amongst an array of competitors, name recognition can be make or break.
The Axios Harris Poll polled a nationally representative sample of nearly 43,000 Americans to find out which 100 companies emerge as top of mind—for better or for worse.
How is Brand Reputation Measured?
The polling process started by asking respondents which two companies they felt excelled or faltered in the U.S.—in other words, which companies were the most “visible” in their eyes.
The top 100 brands that emerged from this framework were then judged by poll respondents across seven dimensions, over three key pillars:
- Character
Includes a company’s culture, ethics, and citizenship (whether a consumer shares a company’s values or the company supports good causes) - Trajectory
Includes a company’s growth prospects, vision for the future, and product and service offerings (whether they are innovative, and of high quality) - Trust
Does a consumer trust the brand in the first place?
Once these dimensions are taken into account, the final scores portray how these “visible brands” rank in terms of their reputation among a representative sample of Americans:
- Score range: 80.0 and above
Reputation: Excellent - Score range: 75.0-79.9
Reputation: Very Good - Score range: 70.0-74.9
Reputation: Good - Score range: 65.0-69.9
Reputation: Fair - Score range: 64.9 and below
Reputation: Poor
Companies with a Very Poor reputation (a score below 50) didn’t make it into the list. Here’s how the 100 most visible companies stack up in terms of brand reputation:
2021 Rank | Company | 2021 Score | Overall Reputation |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | Patagonia | 82.7 | Excellent |
#2 | Honda Motor Company | 81.6 | Excellent |
#3 | Moderna | 81.3 | Excellent |
#4 | Chick-fil-A | 81.1 | Excellent |
#5 | SpaceX | 81.1 | Excellent |
#6 | Chewy | 80.9 | Excellent |
#7 | Pfizer | 80.2 | Excellent |
#8 | Tesla Motors | 80.2 | Excellent |
#9 | Costco | 80.1 | Excellent |
#10 | Amazon.com | 80.0 | Excellent |
#11 | REI | 79.9 | Very Good |
#12 | USAA | 79.2 | Very Good |
#13 | Wegmans | 79.2 | Very Good |
#14 | Subaru | 79.2 | Very Good |
#15 | Unilever | 79.2 | Very Good |
#16 | Apple | 79.1 | Very Good |
#17 | In-n-Out Burger | 78.7 | Very Good |
#18 | Toyota Motor Corporation | 78.7 | Very Good |
#19 | UPS | 78.6 | Very Good |
#20 | PepsiCo | 78.5 | Very Good |
#21 | IKEA | 78.4 | Very Good |
#22 | Lowe's | 78.3 | Very Good |
#23 | Publix Supermarkets | 78.2 | Very Good |
#24 | CVS (CVS Health) | 78.2 | Very Good |
#25 | 3M Company | 78.1 | Very Good |
#26 | HP, Inc. | 78.1 | Very Good |
#27 | Berkshire Hathaway | 78.0 | Very Good |
#28 | Hulu | 77.9 | Very Good |
#29 | Nestle | 77.7 | Very Good |
#30 | The Kroger Company | 77.5 | Very Good |
#31 | Samsung | 77.5 | Very Good |
#32 | Paypal | 77.5 | Very Good |
#33 | FedEx Corporation | 77.4 | Very Good |
#34 | Sony | 77.3 | Very Good |
#35 | Procter & Gamble Co. | 77.0 | Very Good |
#36 | Microsoft | 76.8 | Very Good |
#37 | The Walt Disney Company | 76.7 | Very Good |
#38 | Netflix | 76.4 | Very Good |
#39 | IBM | 76.3 | Very Good |
#40 | General Electric | 76.1 | Very Good |
#41 | Target | 76.0 | Very Good |
#42 | Wayfair | 75.8 | Very Good |
#43 | Citigroup | 75.7 | Very Good |
#44 | American Express | 75.6 | Very Good |
#45 | The Home Depot | 75.4 | Very Good |
#46 | Walgreens | 75.3 | Very Good |
#47 | Kaiser Permanente | 75.3 | Very Good |
#48 | Best Buy | 75.2 | Very Good |
#49 | Adidas | 75.1 | Very Good |
#50 | Ford Motor Company | 75.1 | Very Good |
#51 | Electronic Arts, Inc. | 74.7 | Good |
#52 | State Farm Insurance | 74.7 | Good |
#53 | Hobby Lobby | 74.5 | Good |
#54 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 74.5 | Good |
#55 | Kohl's | 74.4 | Good |
#56 | T-Mobile | 74.3 | Good |
#57 | Domino's Pizza | 73.7 | Good |
#58 | The Coca-Cola Company | 73.7 | Good |
#59 | Goya | 73.5 | Good |
#60 | 73.3 | Good | |
#61 | Verizon Communications | 73.2 | Good |
#62 | Nike | 72.8 | Good |
#63 | Nordstrom | 72.8 | Good |
#64 | Macy's | 72.3 | Good |
#65 | Starbucks Corporation | 72.3 | Good |
#66 | eBay | 72.1 | Good |
#67 | Wendy's | 72.1 | Good |
#68 | General Motors | 72.0 | Good |
#69 | Royal Dutch Shell | 71.6 | Good |
#70 | Yum! Brands | 71.5 | Good |
#71 | Dollar General | 71.4 | Good |
#72 | Johnson & Johnson | 71.4 | Good |
#73 | McDonald's | 71.1 | Good |
#74 | Dollar Tree | 71.1 | Good |
#75 | Fiat Chrysler Automobiles | 70.8 | Good |
#76 | Chipotle | 70.8 | Good |
#77 | Bank of America | 70.5 | Good |
#78 | 70.4 | Good | |
#79 | Robinhood | 70.4 | Good |
#80 | ExxonMobil | 70.4 | Good |
#81 | Delta Air Lines | 70.4 | Good |
#82 | GameStop | 69.7 | Fair |
#83 | Walmart | 69.7 | Fair |
#84 | Burger King | 69.4 | Fair |
#85 | BP | 68.2 | Fair |
#86 | AT&T | 67.6 | Fair |
#87 | United Airlines | 67.4 | Fair |
#88 | Huawei Technologies | 67.1 | Fair |
#89 | JCPenney | 66.3 | Fair |
#90 | Uber | 66.2 | Fair |
#91 | My Pillow | 66.0 | Fair |
#92 | Comcast | 65.8 | Fair |
#93 | 63.4 | Poor | |
#94 | TikTok | 63.0 | Poor |
#95 | Wells Fargo & Company | 63.0 | Poor |
#96 | Sears Holdings Corporation | 61.2 | Poor |
#97 | Wish.com | 60.7 | Poor |
#98 | 60.0 | Poor | |
#99 | Fox Corporation | 59.2 | Poor |
#100 | The Trump Organization | 56.9 | Poor |
While the ranking itself highlights well-respected and poorly-viewed brands overall, another perspective is to look at which brands shot up in the list, and which ones plummeted.
Fastest Risers in Brand Reputation
Unwavering and bold commitments to the environment has helped Patagonia to top the charts as the #1 brand, rising 31 ranks since 2020. From funneling 1% of sales into environmental donations to ensuring ethical supply chains, Patagonia’s culture, ethics, and citizenship all align with its business model in consumers’ eyes.
With over 33 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered daily around the world, Pfizer’s contribution to the ongoing immunization progress is undeniable. As a result, its overall ranking has swelled by 54 places since 2020.
Rank in 2021 | Brand | 2021 Score | Change |
---|---|---|---|
#7 | Pfizer | 80.2 | +54 |
#1 | Patagonia | 82.7 | +31 |
#15 | Unilever | 79.2 | +20 |
#71 | Dollar General | 71.4 | +19 |
#43 | Citigroup | 75.7 | +17 |
#2 | Honda Motor Company | 81.6 | +14 |
#24 | CVS (CVS Health) | 78.2 | +13 |
#27 | Berkshire Hathaway | 78 | +13 |
#50 | Ford Motor Company | 75.1 | +13 |
#56 | T-Mobile | 74.3 | +13 |
Dollar General might seem like a surprising addition to this table, but in terms of sheer growth, discount stores are thriving. Across America, dollar stores are opening at a rate of three per day, faster than any Starbucks or McDonalds.
There’s a crucial reason for this: in many rural areas, millions rely on dollar stores for food and other essentials, as the nearest grocery store can be nearly an hour’s drive away.
Biggest Decliners in Brand Reputation
Despite steady revenue growth, Google is among a handful of Big Tech companies whose reputations are backsliding, dropping 36 places in the past year. The outsize power and influence these companies hold is increasingly coming under regulatory scrutiny.
Rank in 2021 | Brand | 2021 Score | Change |
---|---|---|---|
#60 | 73.3 | -36 | |
#35 | Procter & Gamble Co. | 77 | -27 |
#81 | Delta Air Lines | 70.4 | -24 |
#30 | The Kroger Company | 77.5 | -21 |
#38 | Netflix | 76.4 | -21 |
#70 | Yum! Brands | 71.5 | -21 |
#23 | Publix Supermarkets | 78.2 | -19 |
#36 | Microsoft | 76.8 | -17 |
#58 | The Coca-Cola Company | 73.7 | -17 |
#67 | Wendy's | 72.1 | -17 |
Although Netflix pioneered the world of streaming, it is now facing stiff competition from emerging subscription services. Amazon’s latest acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM Studios) will especially bolster the content catalog available on Prime Video.
Building a Brand Reputation Doesn’t Come Easy
Near the bottom of the 100 companies leaderboard, the struggles of mainstream media and modern information dissemination are strongly reflected. Despite their diverse audiences and established histories, brand reputations of both Facebook and Fox News have eroded in recent years.
This example highlights how the nature of a brand’s reputation can evolve over time. Building a strong and reputable brand may be subjective, but its effects on consumer loyalty are powerful.
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