Traditional brands are losing out to digital competitors worldwide

Prophet surveyed 40,000 consumers worldwide on the relevance of brands. The analysis shows: Digital brands are increasingly replacing traditional providers - and are playing an ever more important role in people's lives.

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Apple, Amazon, Alipay, WeChat and Google - digital brands and services are playing an increasingly important role in people's lives around the world. The new competitors from the digital world are pushing established providers of traditional products such as cars, clothing and food to the back of the pack in terms of relevance and popularity and are becoming increasingly indispensable in consumers' everyday lives. These are the key findings of a survey conducted by brand and strategy consultancy Prophet, which asked more than 40,000 consumers in Germany, the UK, the USA and China which brands are most relevant to their lives. The study covers over 800 brands from 27 sectors and is the first global ranking based solely on consumer opinion.

According to Prophet, brands that play an important role in people's lives - i.e. that are consistently customer-oriented, creative, innovative and pragmatic - are relevant. Digital brands and services are the undisputed global leaders in the Brand Relevance Index (BRI). The three leading brands in China (Alipay, Wechat, Visa), the UK (Apple, Google, Amazon), the USA (Apple, Amazon, Android) and Germany (Amazon, Apple and Google) all have a digitally focused business model with high growth rates and a high level of customer benefit. Consumers worldwide give these brands good functional values because they make their everyday lives easier. Only when it comes to trust do digital companies score lower than traditional brands.

With Apple, Google and Amazon, the American economy is sending a strong trio into the race for the greatest global brand relevance. In Germany, the UK and the USA, the three US digital companies clearly lead the respective country rankings. In China, on the other hand, Alipay (mobile payment, 450 million users) and WeChat (messaging app, 700 million users) are two national providers at the top of the most relevant brands. However, with Visa, Marriott, Uber and Ford in the top ten, the US economy also has a very strong presence in China. The 20 most relevant brands in Germany include 7 German brands (such as Bosch, DM, Miele and Adidas). In the UK, the top ten is dominated exclusively by digital services, software and hardware. However, British companies with their own products or services are hardly to be found among the most relevant brands. Only the renowned BBC media group is in the top 20 (19th place).

"Our brand ranking shows a significant change in consumer behavior. Although traditional brands are not suddenly irrelevant, they are facing new competition from the digital world, which is successfully gaining people's interest," says Jan Döring, Partner at Prophet, assessing the results of the survey. Relevance ensures profitable growth, because relevant brands can increase their sales, push through higher prices and increase purchase frequency without having to resort to short-term discounts or sales promotion measures, says Döring: "For customers, these brands are becoming an indispensable part of their lives because they are relevant. They spend time and money on the brands that mean the most to them, devote attention to them and give them space"

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