Survey: Walmart is top global retail brand

New York City Strong brands proved their resilience to recession in the fifth annual Millward Brown Optimor BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking released Wednesday. Walmart ranked as the top retail brand, followed by Amazon, Tesco, Carrefour and Target.

When most key financial indicators plummeted, the value of the top 100 brands rose by 4% in the last year to more than $2 trillion. The BrandZ Top 100, commissioned by WPP, takes into account customers’ opinions on brands and demonstrates this with a dollar value. The complete ranking can be downloaded at millwardbrown.com/brandz, including regional and category breakdowns.

“In the past, many companies were quick to cut their marketing spend during a down economy,” said Joanna Seddon, CEO of Millward Brown Optimor. “A new trend has emerged in the wake of the recession as more companies realized the importance of maintaining and even increasing budgets to support brand loyalty and engagement.”

The Top 20 retail brands from the report are:

1. Walmart 2. Amazon 3. Tesco 4. Carrefour 5. Target 6. eBay 7. The Home Depot 8. Aldi 9. Auchan 10. Lowe's 11. Best Buy 12. Ikea 13. Marks & Spencer 14. Asda 15. Kohl's 16. Lidl 17. Costco 18. Sam's Club 19. Safeway 20. Sainsbury's