Aldi comes first in top 10 brands survey
Aldi is in first and Lidl in fourth place in the rankings, based on a survey highlighting the positive and negative comments consumers noticed about thousands of brands over a two-week period.
With a clear focus on quality at affordable prices, the two brands were expanding their consumer base and attracting consumers who would never have thought to visit their stores, YouGov said.
MoneySavingExpert.com also arrived in the top 10 for the first time, highlighting the public’s continued quest to save money while the cost of living remains squeezed, YouGov claimed.
Waitrose
However, at the same time upmarket supermarket Waitrose did better than it did in the same survey last year, rising from ninth to joint fifth place with Dyson. The John Lewis retail brand nailed second place, while Sainsbury’s just held on to its position in the top 10, remaining number 10.
The BrandIndex top 10 buzz brands
Rank | Brand (First half 2014) | Score |
1 | Aldi | +25.9 |
2 | John Lewis | +20.5 |
3 | BBC iPlayer | +19.6 |
4 | Lidl | +18.2 |
5 | Dyson | +14.4 |
5 | Waitrose | +14.4 |
7 | BBC.co.uk | +13.4 |
8 | MoneySavingExpert.com | +12.1 |
9 | Samsung | +11.6 |
10 | Sainsbury’s | +11.5 |
In addition, seven out of the 10 brands that had most improved in terms of positive media coverage since 2013 were food industry brands. Here, Findus was voted number one by consumers, indicating it was recovering well from being hit hard by the horsemeat scandal last year, said YouGov.
A Findus beef lasagne was found to contain 100% horsemeat after tests in February last year.
Aldi registered as the second most improved brand, with Lidl fourth, Tesco fifth, Starbucks and Starbucks Via sixth and seventh and frozen food chain Iceland in eighth place.
Other brands in the overall list included Samsung, which slipped from second to ninth place compared to the same survey last year.
The BBC’s website and the corporation’s iPlayer, in seventh and third place respectively, both retained their places in the list.
Top 10 biggest movers
Rank | Brand (First half 2014) | Change in Score versus 2013 |
1 | Findus | 18.8 |
2 | Aldi | 15.6 |
3 | HMV | 12.8 |
4 | Lidl | 12.5 |
5 | Tesco | 8.1 |
6 | Starbucks | 7.5 |
7 | Starbucks Via | 6.4 |
8 | Iceland | 5.9 |
9 | Santander | 5.6 |
10 | BP | 5.4 |
‘Deep inroads’
“The budget grocery stores are making deep inroads into the supermarket sector and are also shaking up the retail landscape too, with Aldi coming in ahead of established brands such as John Lewis,” said Sarah Murphy, BrandIndex director at YouGov.
“Consumers want to do their weekly shops affordably while losing nothing in terms of quality and they believe these German brands do this. The other supermarkets in the top 10 may need to react and adapt to the challenge in order to maintain their place in the hearts and minds of consumers.”
The YouGov survey asked shoppers: “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?” Respondents gave a score between +100 (extremely positive) and -100 (extremely negative), with a zero score indicating a balance of feedback that had neither been negative nor positive.
