PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
Amazon Enters the Retail Mainstream
Wilton, CT (November 5, 2013) For the first time, leading consumer packaged goods
manufacturers ranked Amazon among the Top 10 in this year’s Kantar Retail PoweRanking®
study. The survey, now in its 17th year, benchmarks how trading partners view each other in the
most important areas of the manufacturer-retailer relationship. Amazon was especially
recognized as a future Power Retailer. A manufacturer participant commented:
“As online shopping continues to grow, Amazon is set up perfectly to continue capturing
share of the market. They have an incredible equity and trust with shoppers, what
appears to be a solid business model, and strong leadership in place.”
The top seven retailers maintained their overall rank in the PoweRanking, with Walmart
continuing as #1 for the 17th year. Walmart continues to stand out for its excellence in supply
chain management, where efficiency and availability have become more critical. They are also
recognized for providing partnership opportunities. A manufacturer comment underscores this:
“Walmart, being by far the largest retailer, will continue to evolve and adjust to
consumer/shopper needs. They are open to building strategic partnerships with manufacturers
and they capitalize on the available information to build their plans.”
PRESS RELEASE
On the manufacturer side, retailers have ranked Procter & Gamble #1 in the PoweRanking
Composite each year for the last decade. Retailers have continued to recognize them as #1 in
four of eight measures – Clear Strategy, Important Brands, Innovative Marketing and
Insights/Category Leadership. However, Unilever has leapfrogged from #4 to #2 in the
PoweRanking Composite and is on the heels of P&G. General Mills is nearly tied with Unilever,
and surpassed Procter & Gamble to take the lead in Supply Chain Management and Customer
Teams.
The 2013 PoweRanking report points to a more constant stormy environment as retailers
overlap in geographies and offerings and as shoppers have the opportunity to buy more
products anytime, anywhere. Retailer participants in the study consistently highlighted leading
manufacturer partners who act as a beacon, providing a short-term plan and a longer-term
vision for growth. As a major retailer explained:
“We need a short-term component of 12-15 months and a longer-burn view of two-five
years. We won’t turn around anything in a year.”
Retailers noted that they are more ready than ever to test concepts for growth. They highlighted
General Mills for its continuous test-and-learn philosophy:
“General Mills is willing to take risks with us to test new programs that allow us to learn
and re-apply with other suppliers. We had some real tangible wins with them in 2012.”
PRESS RELEASE
Other key findings from the PoweRanking 2013 report include:
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Following Kraft’s split into Kraft Foods Group and Mondelez International, the new Kraft
Foods Group debuted in the 4th rank in the PoweRanking Composite.
Walmart regained its top ranking in Category Management/Buying Teams after being
edged out by Target in 2012.
Target maintained its second rank in the PoweRanking Composite. Manufacturers
ranked Target as #1 in Best to Business With, Innovative Merchandising and Digital
Marketing. Target also moved from #4 to #2 in Supply Chain Management.
Whole Foods had significant gains in 2013, moving from #13 to #11 in the PoweRanking
Composite. Manufacturers ranked them among the Top 10 in Clear Strategy, Branding,
Future Power Retailer and Innovative Merchandising.
The annual study by Kantar Retail, the world’s leading insights and consultancy business, is
comprised of customized questionnaires for retailer and wholesaler respondents in food, drug,
mass merchandiser, dollar, convenience and club channels and manufacturers in food,
household products, general merchandise and health & beauty care. The purpose of the study
is to identify those manufacturers and retailers who are best in class and provide insight into
what distinguishes them. PoweRanking Study included responses from over 500 retailers and
manufacturers to benchmark the top partners in eight key areas.
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About Kantar Retail
Kantar Retail (www.kantarretail.com) is the world’s leading shopper and retail insights and
consulting business and is part of the Kantar group of WPP. The company works with leading
branded manufacturers and retailers to help them transform the purchase behavior of shoppers
through the use of retail insights, consulting, analytics and organizational development services.
Kantar Retail tracks and forecasts more than 1,000 retailers globally, has purchase data on
more than 200m shoppers and among its market-leading reports are the annual PoweRanking®
study (USA and China), and Trade Promotion Spending study and Category Leadership
study. Kantar Retail works with more than 400 clients and has 20 offices in 15 markets around
the globe.
About Kantar Retail PoweRanking Reports
Kantar Retail sponsored the first annual PoweRanking study in 1997. The survey originated
from its industry benchmarking studies on category management and trade promotion
management, which for the past 19 years have provided insight into industry best practices in
PRESS RELEASE
these areas. The objective of the PoweRanking study is to research and benchmark how
retailers and manufacturers view each other in the most important areas of the
manufacturer/retailer relationship.
The PoweRanking Study identifies those retailers and manufacturers who set the standard of
performance as ranked by their trading partners. This provides benchmarks for retailers and
manufacturers across trade channels.
The specific goals of the research were to:
• Identify the best manufacturers and retailers, as evaluated by their trading partners
• Provide insight into what makes them “the best”
• Define the importance of key metrics between trading partners
• Highlight areas for improvement
Contact:
Virginia H. Valkenburgh
Kantar Retail
Wilton CT
(203) 834-2800
Ted Riedel
Kantar Retail
Wilton CT
(203) 834-2800