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NEW YORK — Walmart took the top spot in Kantar’s PoweRanking report for the 26th consecutive year, a feat that Kantar calls a testament to the retailer’s strength, scale, and focus over time.
PoweRanking is the industry’s leading assessment of best-in-class manufacturers and retailers. Chosen by their peers, leaders are ranked on a range of factors from strategic metrics to business fundamentals. Now in its 26th edition, Kantar looks at how retailers and manufacturers can best innovate and serve consumers in food, drug, mass merchandise, dollar, convenience, specialty, e-commerce and club channels, as well as for manufacturers in food, household products, general merchandise, and health and beauty care categories.
PepsiCo once again stood out among suppliers, ranking No. 1 overall for the seventh consecutive year. The company has been number one in all nine metrics for the last six years.
“Pepsi, CocaCola and P&G continued an unprecedented string of partnership characteristics and Walmart, Target and Kroger set the pace on ecosystem service to their shoppers on the retailer side of the study,” said Patrick Fellen, Head of Consulting, Analytics and Applications at Kantar Retail.
The results of the 2022 survey were compared with the previous past two years to determine the causes behind shifts in the rankings. This year’s PoweRanking sustainability performance metric showed both retailers and manufacturers eager to move past slogans and buzzwords and instead focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) that is both pragmatic and makes a difference in shoppers’ lives.
Among retailers, Target continued its elevated performance over the past few years to hold its position in the number two overall spot, primarily supported by its number one rankings in both Innovative Marketing and Best Store Branding. Outside of WalMart, the Retail industry’s overall top five is rounded out by the expected giants leading once again – Kroger, Amazon and Costco – showing stability across the board for this category.
The manufacturer’s side for the report outlines a top five consisting of household names recognized for their exceptional performance in the sustainability metric. These brands include: Coca-Cola, P&G, Nestle, and Unilever, with both Nestle and Unilever jumping three spots each from last year’s rankings. Other notables rounding out the list include Tyson and AB InBev, as it is each company’s first year included within the top ten.
“This is a truly outstanding achievement for all brands within the top ten. Walmart remaining strong in the number one spot for over a quarter of a century is an impressive feat given the drastic landscape change brought upon by Amazon in recent years. PepsiCo has doubled-down, facing retail realities across their entire retail-partnership base, providing clear strategy, bringing insights that matter, thinking category-first with retail partners,” added Fellen.
The executive summary of the 2022 Kantar PoweRanking survey is available here.
