Amazon not only continues to dominate the online shopping world and make major inroads into the advertising market, it has also once again been listed by consumers as their favourite brand of 2020.
The ecommerce site gained the most mentions – 15% – when consumers were asked who their favourite brands were, followed by John Lewis (4%), Sainsbury’s (4%), and Tesco (3%), according to new DMA research.
When asked the same question back in 2018, the winners looked very similar. Consumers mentioned Amazon the most (14%), with similar levels of popularity for M&S (4%), John Lewis (4%) and Sainsbury’s (4%).
The Customer Engagement: How to Win Trust and Loyalty report also reveals that consumers’ loyalty to Amazon is almost as likely to be driven by convenience (54%) as it is a genuine connection (46%).
Evidently, many consumers tend to view Amazon as more of a dependable service as opposed to an actual brand to form a relationship with.
The survey also revealed that over a third of consumers (35%) continue to report not feeling loyal enough to any brand to name it as their favourite, an increase from 33% in 2018.
DMA head of insight Tim Bond commented: “Somewhat surprisingly, despite consumers’ heavy reliance on Amazon’s services during 2020’s nationwide lockdowns, it has not gained significant traction with customers over the last two years.
“The coronavirus has led to an increasing number of consumers relying on brands like Amazon for key services, but this appears to be driven by necessity and not entirely preference.
“There are also an increasing number of consumers who report not feeling loyal enough to name any brand as their favourite, which suggests that there is still a huge window of opportunity for less established brands to secure a loyal customer base.”
Even so, a separate study has revealed that Amazon’s advertising business is now growing faster than its retail, cloud computing and Prime subscription divisions, with new data from FactSet showing the division raked in $21bn during 2020, up 47% year-on-year.
The sharp rise in revenues is linked to the increasing dominance of its online marketplace, with merchants investing in advertising to ensure their products feature prominently in search listings.
Meanwhile, Amazon is also set to purchase 11 jumbo jets in its latest effort to speed up the delivery of goods, marking the first time the firm has bought planes for its Amazon Air fleet instead of leasing them. Its latest purchase will bring the total number of planes in the Amazon Air fleet to 85 by 2022, retaining 74 leased cargo jets.
Amazon Air was launched in 2016 as part of the retailer’s efforts to reduce reliance on third party logistics firms like UPS and FedEx.
Related stories
Amazon’s tech and data combo could knock out big four
Supermarkets under pressure as Amazon Fresh expands
Ecommerce sites lure adspend as Brits admit addiction
Covid lockdown fuels the growth of subscription Britain
Brands’ response to Covid will define business for years
Over half of brands have increased spend since outbreak
