John Lewis, Ikea and M&S top UK brand health rankings

John Lewis has topped YouGov BrandIndex’s brand health rankings in the UK for a second year, leading a top three made up of retail brands that suggests despite the troubles on the high street, consumers still think favourably of the likes of Marks & Spencer, Ikea and Boots.

John Lewis had a score of 41.2, which was calculated using an average of impressions, value, quality, reputation, satisfaction and recommend scores for the year to the end of June. Swedish furniture retailer Ikea came in second place with a score of 38.9 and Marks & Spencer in third with 38.9.

John Lewis takes first position as a result of its history and heritage, with a high reputation score (whether someone would be proud or embarrassed to work for a brand) of 45.4 compared to runner up Ikea’s 24.1.

However, what Ikea lacks in reputation it gains in value for money, with a value score of 43.4 compared to John Lewis’s 17.

Although John Lewis consistently scores highly in YouGov’s rankings, financial figures haven’t necessarily reflected this in recent years.

John Lewis’ number one score this year is also 0.7 points lower than last year, while Ikea’s score increased by 2.5 points, suggesting their positions may well switch in 2020.

Other brands in the top 10 include Heinz, Samsung, Boots and Cathedral City. Visa, Royal Mail and Cadbury are new to the top 10 this year, having not featured in last year’s ranking.

The three new entrants mean three other brands have fallen out of the top 10. BBC iPlayer and BBC One both disappeared from the top 10 this year. Last year, the BBC had an overall health score of 32.6, which has decreased by 2.4 points to 30.2 this year.

However, a likely consequence of axing the free licence fee for over 75s, scores declined more among those aged over 50, down 3.2 points to 29.4.

The most improved brands

Netflix, meanwhile, saw the largest improvement in brand health, with a change in score of 7.9, followed by Uber on 5.3 and British Airways with an improvement of 4.1.

For several brands, entry on to this list is due to strong improvement despite coming from – and remaining with – a negative score. Uber, for example, still scores just -0.9 while McDonald’s is on -0.3.

For Netflix, it’s strong growth should mean it makes the top 10 UK brands overall, while Cadbury’s improvement helped it make the top 10 this year.