Macy’s overcomes challenges to claim leading rank.
Macy’s has stolen the top retail spot away from competitor Kohl’s in the latest Harris Poll Brands of the Year, despite its challenges of underperforming stores and online pressure. Macy’s posted an increase of at least 7 percent in brand equity from 2014 to 2016, allowing it to unseat Kohl’s, which had held the pole position in the vertical since 2012.
Macy’s displaced last year's winner Kohl’s to take top honors among department stores in Harris Poll’s 28th annual EquiTrend Brand Equity Index. The index measures brands’ health over time: Macy’s, which has been struggling, rose at least 7% from 2015 on key factors of familiarity, quality and purchase consideration.
Apple displaced 2015 leader Best Buy in Harris Poll's rankings of online electronics retailers, and Nordstrom toppled Lord & Taylor in the luxury department store category.
The company with the largest jump in brand equity was Nintendo, which rose to the top spot with a 16 percent jump since 2014. Technology dominated the group of the fastest risers, as YouTube, Netflix and Sony all captured Brand of the Year for social networking sites, video streaming platforms and home electronics, respectively.
Though it posted more modest gains, Best Buy won for electronics retailers. The Home Depot took home gold for the fourth year in a row among hardware stores and T.J.Maxx, a newcomer to Brand of the Year honors, pulled home the crown for off-price retailers.
Measuring brands’ health over time, the EquiTrend Brand Equity Index is comprised of three factors -- Familiarity, Quality and Purchase Consideration -- that result in a brand equity rating for each brand. Brands ranking highest in equity receive the Harris Poll EquiTrend® “Brand of the Year” award for their respective categories. The poll is based on the responses of more than 97,000 U.S. consumers, who assessed more than 3,800 brands across nearly 500 categories.
“Consumers form impressions of brands long before they ever use them, based on their perceptions and what they may know from trusted sources,” said Joan Sinopoli, vice president of brand solutions at Nielsen, which owns The Harris Poll. “This high level equity is the gateway to eventual purchase; it also helps to protect brands from the consequences of an occasional misstep. The strength of a company’s brand equity can have direct business and financial outcomes.”
