By Chris Bishop

Amazon has been voted top dog in the competitive world of brands in the Brand Finance Retail 50 survey – told you so, says the company’s representative in Africa.

The online shopping giant has been cashing in on the COVID-19 lockdown thanks to people’s inability to leave their home and has increased its brand share by 17.5 per cent to be worth $220,791,000. In second place is the US store chain Walmart, up 14.2 per cent with a brand worth $77,520. Industry experts say Walmart was a bit slow off the mark with online sales, but made up for it over the last year.

“Speaking at a conference in South Africa over a decade ago, I said I thought Amazon would become the biggest retail brand in the world. I was then told from the floor that I was wrong, Amazon was not a retail brand. It reminds me that many years ago I was told gently by a top CEO that I couldn’t be right all the time. Very good advice, but there is no harm in trying! Larry Page, a founder of Google, once said that the main reason brands failed is that they were unable to see the future,” says Jeremy Sampson, the CEO of Brand Finance Africa.

“You will see from the annual ranking of Top Retail Brands released by Brand Finance in London this week that Amazon is in a league of its own. Yet some of the traditional retailers, if that is the right term, have remained strong and are adapting. In South Africa, as in most countries there is a long list of retailers who are no longer. The last few weeks has accelerated the use of technology and we will see further shrinking of a bricks and mortar presence. We have a Minister who seems to think technology gives some an unfair advantage. He needs to get real as this is an undeniable fact of life. But we do need to harness technology for the benefit of all.” What the experts can’t work out is why Jack Ma’s baby the online shopping conglomerate Alibaba. The China-based company is hanging on to number 10 on the Brand Finance top 10 brands. Its brand, according to research