The Brand Intimacy Agency
RETAIL REPORT
U.S.
MX
In partnership with
UAE
RETAIL
FINDINGS
Marketing is more complicated than ever. From big data and
digital integration to shrinking timelines and diminishing
budgets. Despite this volatility, there are untapped
opportunities. Brand Intimacy is at the heart of this thinking.
Building on our research spanning five years, this year’s
results examine 52,000 brand evaluations on more than 400
brands across 9 industries and 3 countries. It is one of the
largest studies of brands based on emotion.
$22 TRILLION+
GLOBAL RETAIL
SALES IN 20141
This report focuses on the retail industry in the U.S.,
Mexico, and UAE. In it, you’ll find rankings and head to head
comparisons that showcase how Brand Intimacy works.
To learn more about our findings, explore our interactive
Ranking Tool that let’s you examine data by demographics
and countries.
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BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
Retail is an interesting industry to review based on our geographies. It is ranked number 2 in both the
U.S. and UAE, and in last place in Mexico, suggesting quite a varied performance. Fulfillment is the leading
archetype in the U.S. and UAE, and indulgence is the leading archetype in Mexico.
AVERAGE RETAIL BRAND INTIMACY QUOTIENT SCORES BY COUNTRY
GLOBAL AVERAGE ACROSS ALL INDUSTRIES IS 33
U.S.
MEXICO
UAE
20
30
40
50
60
TOP RETAIL BRANDS BY COUNTRY
RANK
U.S.
MEXICO
UAE
#1
#2
#3
BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
3
U.S. RETAIL
U.S.
4.5%
AVERAGE
ANNUAL INCREASE
OF U.S. RETAIL
SALES BETWEEN
1993–20152
$2.6 TRILLION
RETAIL’S
CONTRIBUTION TO
THE U.S. GDP3
42 MILLION JOBS
THE NUMBER
OF JOBS THAT
RETAIL DIRECTLY
AND INDIRECTLY
SUPPORTS IN
THE U.S.4
With an average Brand Intimacy Quotient of 40, retail is seven points above the average across all
categories. Fulfillment is the archetype most associated with this industry. Amazon, Whole Food, and
Starbucks all hover around 10–11 percent fusing. Amazon and Pizza Hut also have the highest percentage
of bonding consumers (12 percent) in the category. Also notable is that The Home Depot and McDonald’s
ranked 17th and 18th respectively.
TOP 10 RETAIL BRANDS 2015
RANK
BRANDS
QUOTIENT
#1
64
#2
60
#3
51
#4
49
#5
48
#6
47*
#7
47*
#8
45
#9
40
#10
39
*Scores that appear tied are the result of rounding four decimal point Quotient scores to their nearest whole number.
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BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
HEAD TO HEAD
BRANDS
OVERALL RANK
#18
#60
INDUSTRY RANK
#4
#14
49
34
9.9%
6.3%
QUOTIENT
PAY 20% MORE
1
6
ARCHETYPES
2
5
3
4
STAGES
Target outperforms
Walmart by 13
points in the
fulfillment archetype,
which centers on
performance.
BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
40
1. FULFILLMENT
1
27
28
2. IDENTITY
21
42
3. ENHANCEMENT
40
43
4. RITUAL
38
25
5. NOSTALGIA
20
25
6. INDULGENCE
13
8%
1. FUSING
5%
9%
2. BONDING
5%
18%
3. SHARING
18%
6
2
5
3
4
Comparing Target to Walmart, the higher-ranked Target, with its Quotient of 49, has stronger associations
across all archetypes. Perhaps most notable is the difference between the two brands related to
fulfillment, with Target at 40 and Walmart at 27. The stages comparison shows Target has higher levels of
bonding and fusing, the highest stages of intimacy. Importantly, 35 percent of Target users are in some
form of intimacy, whereas 28 percent of Walmart’s are. Almost 10 percent of Target respondents say they
are willing to pay 20 percent more for its products, whereas 6.3 percent of Walmart’s note the same. This
may not be surprising because a core promise of the Walmart brand is affordable prices.
Although clearly both brands have room to improve, Target presents as a more significant intimate brand,
from its Quotient score to its percentage of users willing to pay more for the brand. Target’s higher level
of key characteristics associated with Brand Intimacy and its composition of intimate users all suggest a
brand with more emotional strength.
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RETAIL
MEXICO
$395 BILLION
MEXICO’S TOTAL
RETAIL NET
SALES IN 20135
$9.04 BILLION
MEXICAN RETAIL
E-COMMERCE
SALES PROJECTIONS
FOR 20176
2.4%
PERCENTAGE
MEXICAN RETAIL
NET SALES GREW
IN ANNUAL TERMS
FROM 2013 TO 20147
Retail has an average Brand Intimacy Quotient of 18, which is the lowest score among the categories.
Indulgence is the most popular archetype associated with this industry. Within our top intimate ranked
retail brands, department stores and quick-service restaurants seem to perform the best. Liverpool
ranked highest, with 40 percent of its customers surveyed in an intimate stage, including 11 percent
fusing, three percent bonding, and 26 percent sharing. Pizza Hut, the highest-ranking retail food brand,
has 30 percent of its customers in intimate stages, with two percent fusing, six percent bonding, and 22
percent sharing. OXXO and Pemex ranked 11th and 12th. Walmart ranked highest for men 18–34 years old,
whereas men ages 45–64 ranked Pemex the highest.
TOP 10 RETAIL BRANDS 2015
RANK
BRANDS
QUOTIENT
#1
39
#2
31
#3
26
#4
22
#5
21
#6
17
#7
16
#8
11
#9
10*
#10
10*
*Scores that appear tied are the result of rounding four decimal point Quotient scores to their nearest whole number.
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BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
HEAD TO HEAD
BRANDS
OVERALL RANK
#84
#110
INDUSTRY RANK
#4
#8
22
11
7.8%
4.9%
QUOTIENT
PAY 20% MORE
1
6
ARCHETYPES
2
5
3
4
STAGES
Perhaps most
notable is the
difference between
the two brands
related to fulfillment,
PizzaHut at 37 and
McDonald’s at 21.
BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
37
1. FULFILLMENT
21
20
2. IDENTITY
15
23
3. ENHANCEMENT
17
29
4. RITUAL
22
38
5. NOSTALGIA
44
56
6. INDULGENCE
49
2%
1. FUSING
1%
6%
2. BONDING
3%
22%
3. SHARING
10%
1
6
2
5
3
4
Comparing Pizza Hut to McDonald’s, Pizza Hut is higher performing, with stronger associations across
most archetypes. Most notable is the difference between the two brands related to fulfillment, with Pizza
Hut at 37 and McDonald’s at 21. McDonald’s is more known for nostalgia, which is not surprising, given the
brand’s history. Pizza Hut has higher levels of bonding and fusing, the highest stages of intimacy. Thirty
percent of Pizza Hut users are in some form of intimacy, whereas 14 percent of McDonald’s are. Almost 8
percent of Pizza Hut respondents say they are willing to pay 20 percent more for its products, whereas 4.9
percent of McDonald’s note the same.
While clearly both brands have room to improve, Pizza Hut presents a more significant intimate brand,
based on its Quotient score and more than double the number of intimate customers than McDonald’s,
as well as its percentage of users willing to pay more for the brand. Pizza Hut’s higher level of key
characteristics associated with Brand Intimacy and its composition of intimate users all suggest a brand
with more emotional significance.
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UAE RETAIL
UAE
32.9%
ESTIMATED UAE
RETAIL SECTOR
GROWTH IN 20158
2ND
THE UAE’S POSITION AS
MOST IMPORTANT RETAIL
DESTINATION GLOBALLY
IN 20149
29.2%
THE WHOLESALE AND
RETAIL TRADE SECTOR ‘S
SHARE OF DUBAI’S GDP
IN 201310
Retail has a Brand Intimacy Quotient average of 39, six points above the average across all categories.
Within our top intimate ranked retail brands, fulfillment is the archetype most associated with this
industry, with indulgence a close second. Starbucks ranked highest, although 55 percent of its intimate
customers surveyed are in sharing, the earliest stage of intimacy. IKEA emerged in 2nd place, whereas
the hypermarkets Carrefour and LuLu ranked 3rd and 4th. Several restaurants, including Pizza Hut,
McDonald’s, KFC, and Subway also placed into the Top 10, with McDonald’s notable for having 12 percent
bonding, the third highest percentage in the category. Men 18–34 years old rank KFC as their most
intimate retail brand.
TOP 9 RETAIL BRANDS 2015
RANK
BRANDS
QUOTIENT
#1
55
#2
51
#3
46
#4
39
#5
38
#6
37
#7
34
#8
31
#9
23
*Scores that appear tied are the result of rounding four decimal point Quotient scores to their nearest whole number.
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BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
HEAD TO HEAD
BRANDS
OVERALL RANK
#34
#62
INDUSTRY RANK
#7
#9
34
23
32.8%
13.3%
QUOTIENT
PAY 20% MORE
1
6
ARCHETYPES
2
5
3
4
STAGES
McDonald's has double
the bonding users
of Subway and more
sharing customers.
BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
33
1. FULFILLMENT
30
23
2. IDENTITY
23
24
3. ENHANCEMENT
23
27
4. RITUAL
17
37
5. NOSTALGIA
23
43
6. INDULGENCE
32
1%
1. FUSING
3%
12%
2. BONDING
6%
34%
3. SHARING
20%
1
6
2
5
3
4
Comparing McDonald’s to Subway, McDonald’s is the more intimate brand, with a higher ranking. Across
archetypes, most interesting is McDonald’s 10-point lead in ritual, defined as being a vitally important
part of someone’s daily life, a desired goal for both of these brands. McDonald’s is also considered
more nostalgic and indulgent. We know 47 percent of McDonald’s customers surveyed have an intimate
relationship with the brand, whereas 29 percent of Subway’s customers do, suggesting McDonald’s is
doing more to create and deliver intimacy. The stages comparison shows that neither brand has fusing
customers, the highest form of intimacy. McDonald’s has double the bonding users of Subway and more
sharing customers. You can see that 32.8 percent of McDonald’s respondents say they are willing to pay
20 percent more for its products, more than double the 13.3 percent of Subway users who say the same.
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ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
COLLAGE GRAPHIC
BRAND INTIMACY
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PLAY VIDEO
Explore more Brand Intimacy insights and findings with our interactive
Brand Ranking Tool, industry snapshots, and country reports.
EXPLORE
E-BOOK
METHODOLOGY
During the spring of 2015, Praxis Research Partners conducted an online quantitative survey among
6,000 consumers in the United States (3,000), Mexico (2,000), and the United Arab Emirates (1,000).
Participants were respondents who were screened for age (i.e. 18 to 64 years of age) and annual
household income ($35,000 or more) in the U.S. and socioeconomic levels in Mexico and the UAE (A,
A COMPREHENSIVE
EXAMINATION
OF established to ensure that the sample mirrored census
B, and C socioeconomic levels).
Quotas
were
HOW TO CREATE, SUSTAIN AND
MEASURE ULTIMATE BRAND RELATIONSHIPS
data for age, gender, income/socioeconomic level, and region. We crafted the survey instrument using
insights from extensive qualitative research conducted on the topic of Brand Intimacy. The survey was
E-BOOK
designed primarily to understand the extent to which consumers have relationships with brands and the
strength of those relationships, from fairly detached to highly intimate. It is important to note that this
study provides more than a mere ranking of brand performance and was specifically designed to provide
prescriptive guidance to marketers. We modeled data from a total of 52,000 brand evaluations to quantify
the mechanisms that drive intimacy. Through factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other
sophisticated analytic techniques, the research allows marketers to better understand which levers need
to be pulled to build intimacy between brands and consumers.
To read a more detailed description of our approach, visit our methodology page.
SOURCES
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To review the sources cited in this report, please visit our sources page.
BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
ABOUT US
MBLM is the Brand Intimacy Agency, dedicated to creating stronger
bonds between people, brands, and technology. We integrate strategy,
design, creativity, and technology skills to shape brands for the needs
of today and the vision of tomorrow. Our partners have built B2C, B2B,
and B2G brands of all sizes and scales across continents and categories.
With offices in seven countries, our multidisciplinary teams form an
experienced and dynamic multicultural network that helps clients deliver
stronger marketing outcomes and returns over the long term.
To learn more about how we can help you create and sustain ultimate
brand relationships visit mblm.com
Praxis Research Partners was established in 2002 by three senior
market research professionals. Our guiding principle is to measure
and create growth opportunities for our clients through revenuedriven targeting and researching on branding, positioning, and
optimization strategies. Collectively, Praxis represents more than
60 years of strategic research experience, with an analytic heritage
stemming from years spent in leadership positions at Yankelovich
Partners and the Marketing Corporation of America.
To learn more visit praxis-research.com
BRAND INTIMACY | 2015 RETAIL
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@mblm | mblm.com