2020 Favourite Brand: Amazon, but relationship weak

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Amazon has been listed by consumers as their 2020 favourite brand, closely followed by John Lewis (4%), M&S (4%), Sainsbury’s (3%), and Tesco (3%). eBay held steady in 7th place being named by 2% of consumers as their favourite brand.

The stats are revealed in the Data & Marketing Association’s (DMA) latest research but their Customer Engagement: How to Win Trust and Loyalty report also reveals that consumers’ loyalty to Amazon is almost as likely to be driven by convenience (54%) as it is a genuine connection (46%). Somewhat surprisingly, despite Amazon’s near-ubiquity across so many areas of consumption, the brand hasn’t gained any further traction with customers over the last 2 years. Evidently, many consumers tend to view Amazon as more of a dependable service as opposed to an actual brand to form a relationship with.

When asked consumers were asked to tell the DMA their 2020 favourite brand, a quarter (25%) mentioned other brands outside the top ten, highlighting the variety of businesses that have managed to conquer consumers’ loyalty and that big brands are not as dominant as we might expect.

Data also revealed that about a third of consumers (35%) report not feeling loyal enough to any brand to name it as their 2020 favourite brand. This group’s voice is a clear testimony of the daily challenge brands must deal with: connecting with customers, gaining their trust, and being thought of when it’s time to purchase.

“Somewhat surprisingly, despite consumers’ heavy reliance on Amazon’s services during 2020’s nationwide lockdowns, it has not gained significant traction with customers over the last two years. Coronavirus has led to an increasing number of consumers relying on brands like Amazon for key services, but this appears to be driven by necessity and not entirely preference. There are also an increasing number of consumers who report not feeling loyal enough to name any brand as their favourite, which suggests that there is still a huge window of opportunity for less established brands to secure a loyal customer base.”
– Tim Bond, Head of Insight, DMA

In some ways this is good for ecommerce merchants selling on Amazon – over half of all products sold on Amazon are from third party merchants and Amazon’s popularity (and indeed eBay who made the top 10) means that consumers will be buying your products. The quarter of consumers who mentioned other brands outside the top ten and the 35% who report not feeling loyal enough to any brand to name it as their favourite demonstrate that it is possible for lesser known brands to engage with consumers.