Generational love for retailers

BrandVue’s Most Loved Retail Brands 2022

Brand Love has always varied greatly by age. Young consumers appreciate the value delivered by brands while older consumers know what they like and are happy to pay more for quality.

Looking at the top 10 most loved retailers across generations, you can see this playing out.

Whilst perceptions of brands vary by generation, we can see that it is brands that have stood the test of time and developed a broad appeal across the generations that are winners when it comes to Brand Love.

IKEA is loved by younger consumers (Gen Z and Millennials), while older consumers favour the likes of John Lewis, and when we look at the most loved supermarkets, Tesco and Asda rank highly for Gen Z and Millennials while M&S Simply Food is ranked 2^nd and 1^st for Gen X and Baby Boomers respectively.

Amazon is the only brand that is ranked in the top two for all generations due to its universal appeal offering something for everyone just a few clicks away.

Looking beyond the top 10, Gen Z are fans of their local stores such as One Stop, Spar, Londis and Premier Stores which offer immediate access to groceries instead of doing a big weekly shop. Gen Z are also more likely to love gaming and tech brands such as Apple, GAME, and Curry’s PC World, as for many, their online and offline worlds have blurred into one since the start of the pandemic.

Millennials on the other hand are driving Brand Love for retailers who deliver something unique and special such as Selfridges, Etsy and Moonpig. They are also not so young anymore, with many having started a family, and so retailers that offer a strong online presence as well as in-store experience like The Disney Store and The Entertainer, and the baby products store Mamas & Papas, are gaining popularity with Millennials.

Generation X are often the forgotten generation. There are many column inches devoted to Gen Z, Millennials and even Baby Boomers, however Generation X, born in the 60s and 70s, have escaped the media attention. Despite their age, Generation X are the only generation with an online-only retailer on the list – eBay. EBay offers a sustainable way to sell unwanted items as well as buy the things you need at a lower price. However, Generation X’s desire for value is balanced by their affinity with brands that are associated with delivering high quality such as John Lewis and M&S Simply Food.

M&S Simply Food is also popular amongst Baby Boomers, taking the top spot as the most loved brand for this generation. This suggests that Boomers are happy to spend more on life’s simple pleasures such as food and drink, similar to Generation X.  This generation also love brands whose focus is on quality as opposed to price with John Lewis and M&S both securing a place in the top 10.

Whilst perceptions of brands vary by generation, we can see that it is brands that have stood the test of time and developed a broad appeal across the generations that are winners when it comes to Brand Love. For younger brands this has to be the ultimate challenge – remaining relevant across the ages.

BrandVue’s Most Loved Retail Brands 2022

Download the full report to discover the UK’s Top 100 Most Loved Retail Brands, the report offers expert analysis on where the industry is heading and what brands can do to become more loved by consumers.

The report also touches upon the common characteristics of the most loved retailers, the consumer shift towards shopping local and supporting smaller, independent retailers and communities, the importance of fostering meaningful brand relationships across generations, and more.

Download the report here for the full Top 100 league table as well as more retail trends and insights.