Pandemic helps Amazon retain top position in global brand list

For the second year in a row, Amazon has been rated the world’s most valuable brand. Apple, Google and Microsoft follow with Facebook at number 6. Chinese tech conglomerate, Tencent, is at no. 5.

Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, has a value of $683.852 billion, which went up by $268 billion this year, an astounding 64 per cent jump since last year, says a new BrandZ report released by Kantar, which drew its conclusions for the year 2021 after considering brands from 13 categories.

Amazon’s continuing success can be largely attributed to online shopping which got a boost due to consecutive lockdowns and consumers’ reluctance to step out of their homes due to COVID pandemic.

Apple stands at $612 billion, a 74% change over last year and Google at $458 billion, a 42% change.

The top 100 brands collectively grew by 42 per cent in 2021. It has resulted in a cumulative record of over $7 trillion in value.

Tencent, China’s biggest social media and video games company, stands at 5th place while Alibaba is in seventh position in the ranking of most valuable brands in the world.

“Chinese brands are steadily and slowly progressing, and have made significant headway as more companies leverage their own technological developments and demonstrate their abilities to align with the major trends shaping China and the global market,” Graham Staplehurst, global strategy director at Kantar BrandZ, told Reuters.

Elon Musk’s Tesla, which was established in 2003, earned a name for being the fastest growing brand. It is also the most valuable car brand, its value growing by 275% year-on-year to $42.6 billion, the report said.

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Of the top 10 brands, seven are occupied by technology companies, a clear indication that technology firms dominate the list.

The Chinese brands stand above European brands. China has 14 companies in the top 100 list while Europe has only 11.

The top European brands to make the list was France’s Louis Vuitton (21st rank), Germany’s SAP (26th) and Britain’s only name in the list, Vodafone at 60th position.

A total of 74 of the top 100 brands are from the US, thus clearly establishing the country’s dominance in the brand market.