Harris Poll: Home Depot Tops Retailing In Brand Equity

The Harris Poll 2016 EquiTrend Study ranked The Home Depot as retailing's 2016 hardware and home brand of the year for the fourth consecutive year.

Macy's led department store retailing, Kohls.com led online department store retailing, Best Buy led electronics store retailing and T.J. Maxx led off-pricing retailing in the poll. Other retailers with top brand reputations were Nordstrom in luxury department store retailing and Cabela's in sporting goods store retailing.

Harris Poll noted that the study this year is the fourth consecutive time Home Depot came in as the top brand in its segment. Compared to other industries assessed, retail ranks high on the brand equity scale, placing second behind the restaurant industry. Within retail, hardware and home tops all other categories as defined by Harris Poll.

The study spotlighted the strongest brands in nearly 100 categories across the media, travel, financial, automotive, entertainment, retail, restaurants and household industries based on consumer response.

“Time and again, our research has shown that retailers with strong brand equity dominate a large share of shoppers’ wallets,” said Joan Sinopoli, vp/brand solutions at Nielsen, which owns The Harris Poll. “Retail especially is a brand image-driven category. When consumers connect with your brand, you are likely to see more visits and sales. The Harris Poll retail brands of the year are doing a superior job of connecting with their customers in a heavily-saturated, competitive retail landscape to keep them coming back.”