America’s 5 Most Loved Retailers
Earning shoppers hearts and minds is the first important step to winning a share of their wallets. In its annual “Most Loved Brands in America” report, Morning Consult ranks the 25 companies that are the most adored among consumers, and not surprising they are some of the nation’s most economically successful companies as well.
To arrive at its list of the top 25 most loved brands Morning Consult conducted an online survey of a national sample of adults. Between 1,000 and 56,000 adults rated each of the over 1,900 companies from January through February. The average company was surveyed over 11,000 times.
For this year’s survey, Morning Consult introduced an index to determine the Most Loved Brands, in order to offer a more comprehensive look at consumer perceptions. The Index is based on four metrics: favorability score, percentage of consumers with a favorable opinion of the brand; trust score, percentage of consumers who trust the brand to do the right thing; community impact score, percentage of consumers who say the brand has a positive impact on their local community; and net promoter score, how likely they would be to promote a given brand.
Each one of these scores were added together in order to determine the index score. For example, Amazon scored a 79.1 favorability score, 58.7 in community impact, 68.3 in trust, and a 55.8 net promoter score. All scores were added together to give Amazon its 261.9 first-place index score.
The full results and methodology can be viewed here. Below is a quick look at the first five retailers that made the prodigious top 25 listing.
Generation Gap
Millennials Most Loved Retailers
- Amazon
- Target
- Dollar Tree
- Disney
- Home Depot
Baby Boomer’s Most Loved Retailers
- Home Depot
- Lowe’s
- Amazon
- Ace Hardware
- Dollar Tree
Amazon. Not only was Amazon the first retailer named in the ranking, but it also took first place overall in the cross-industry survey. Amazon has changed the way American’s shop and has become a mandatory stop along the path to purchase form many online shoppers even if they don’t ultimately buy from the brand. In fact, 9 out of 10 consumers price check on Amazon before finalizing a purchase. That kind of brand loyalty is tough to match and helped propel the online giant to the top of this list.
Home Depot. Home Depot continues to invest in technology to turn home improvement shopping into a fun and seamless experience. Whether it is a billion dollar supply chain facelift, in-store wayfinding, or cutting-edge visual search, the retailer continues to develop its technical clout. This commitment to the customer experience has helped it claim and maintain its hold on the home improvement segment and cement itself as the go-to source for do-it-yourselfers.
Dollar Tree. Over the past decade discount shopping has exponentially grown in popularity. During and following the great recession customers became increasingly cost conscious, and have remained so. This focus on “the deal” has given rise to a host of discount apparel and home goods stores, and reinvigorated the once stale dollar store segment. Dollar Tree has earned the enduring loyalty of the American shopping public thanks to its ability to stock its stores with in-demand merchandise while staying true to its $1 price point.
Lowe’s. While rival Home Depot finished in fifth place overall and second among retailers, rival Lowe’s is hot on its trail in the consumer love department. Lowe’s was the fourth retailer named to the list and finished in 11th place overall. Lowe’s, like Home Depot, continues to invest in experiential technology including augmented reality, customer-service robots, and next-gen e-commerce capabilities to connect with digitally-focused consumers. The home improvement giant announced earlier this year that it will be hiring 65,000 full-time and seasonal employees this year to improve customer service and product availability. Included in that impressive number are more than 500 technology roles, including software engineers, data scientists and other digital positions, to build and enhance core technology capabilities and deliver on its omnichannel strategy
Target. In March, Target CEO Brian Cornell announced that although the retailer anticipated 2018 to be a transition year for the brand, it turned out being one of its most productive in its history. Target like the rest of the retailers on this list has dedicated itself to reinventing the shopping experience, helping it forge solid, and long-lasting bonds with its shoppers. Going on a “Target run” has become a cultural phenomenon, a phenomenon the retailer intends to grow and nourish. Target is in the midst of a major store remodeling project, with the goal of revamping more than 1,000 locations by the end of next year.
