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Most Influential Retail Brands 2024

Influence matters, particularly to retail brands, because, in times like this, exerting Influence through emotional connections is the antidote to the alternative: price-cutting. Learn why it pays to be Influential – and to be Influential in as many ways as possible.

What is influence?

In this report, we’re looking at the retail brands themselves and the Influence they exert – not just in the industry, setting trends for other retailers – but Influencing the way people think, behave and live their lives.

Influence means much more than fame; it’s about taking the lead on doing something special, new or different in a way that creates that power to stand out in culture.


Our research shows that the top most Influential brands benefit by:

2.4x

more chosen for “regular use” over rival brands

2.3x

more chosen as shoppers’ “top preference” over rival brands

2x

the level of advocacy over rival brands

Influence drives business growth

A brand with Influence also drives greater financial returns for shareholders. A portfolio comprising the Top 25 BAV Most Influential Brands has significantly outperformed the rest of the market, in good times and bad.

The graph illustrates how the most Influential brands are also the most resilient, experiencing smaller declines in share price when the market suffers a shock – in this case, the beginning of the pandemic. As the market started to recover, it was those brands with the strongest Influence that were first to start their climb, and they accelerated more quickly than other leading businesses.

Influential retailers around the world

The most influential retailers by region vary with those harnessing the superpowers of influence to connect with culture and drive innovation in a contemporary way within their field of expertise. With retail analysis and expertise from WPP’s creative commerce company VMLY&R Commerce, we examine the new perspective on influence in the age of Creative Commerce by region.