The survey had 1000 adult New Zealand residents fill out an online survey.

Each respondent was randomly given 10 brands from a list of 100 international and national brands that were chosen by Ipsos.

They had to evaluate them with five key factors – leading edge, engagement, trustworthiness, citizenship and presence.

Ipsos says the deciding factors for what makes a retail brand influential in New Zealand are people’s trust and engagement in the company, as well as being innovative and different from the crowd.

This is what Ipsos had to say about the top three retailers:

1. Trade Me:

The largest force behind Trade Me’s influence is the trust that people have in the brand. Trade Me…

• Has a strong future
• Is a brand people use today
• Is a brand people highly recommend
• Is a brand people have confidence in
• Understands consumers’ needs

2. The Warehouse: 

The largest force behind The Warehouse’s influence is the perceivedpresence of the brand. The Warehouse…

• Is established
• Is seen everywhere
• Advertises a lot
• Is commonly used

3. Briscoes:

The largest force behind Briscoes’ influence is the trust that people have in the brand. Briscoes…

• Is a brand people are currently using
• Understands consumers’ needs
• Is dependable
• Is a brand people highly recommend
• Is a brand people have confidence in

The rest of the list of retail influencers:

• 4 – Amazon
• 5 – Farmers
• 6 – Kmart
• 7 – Noel Leeming
• 8 – Nike
• 9 – Kathmandu
• 10 – Harvey Norman
• 11 – Mighty Ape
• 12 – Whitcoulls
• 13 – Fishpond
• 14 – Ezibuy
• 15 – Torpedo7
• 16 – Icebreaker

Head of planning at advertising agency FCB, David Thomason, says Trade Me would be very clear about its purpose and philosophy to customers, which is why it snagged the top spot.

“What modern brands have learnt over recent years is to articulate your brand in terms of what your doing for people – their brand purpose,” Thomason says.

“I think increasingly in a digital world those brands that understand that are going to come to the fore.”

There was a lot of love for tech and New Zealand companies in the overall top 15.

Tech and internet heavyweights dominated, with seven of the top 15 places taken up by the likes of Microsoft and YouTube.

New Zealand brands held strong in retail, with the exception of Kmart, Nike and Amazon.

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Thomason says this is because Kiwis like brands from their own country to win.

“Also, a New Zealand brand has a better understanding of what New Zealanders want.”

He says some of the omissions were interesting, as Mitre 10 and supermarkets like New World, Pak’n Save and Countdown were left out of the survey.

“Mitre 10 consistently comes up as one of the most trusted brands according to Reader’s Digest, it seems strange it didn’t include it in the brands assessed,” Thomason says.

“Supermarkets would score high on presence and trustworthiness as people engage with them in their lives a lot compared to other brands.”

Ipsos research director Jonathan Dodd says the survey’s point of difference is it asked a lot of questions (57, to be exact) and measures influence in behavioural changes.

“The key thing is that this measure isn’t any of the more common yet insubstantial ones that measure intangibles (trust, likelihood to recommend, familiarity, etc), which frequently have little to do with actual usage,” says Dodd.

“Our measure looks at the impact these brands have in our everyday lives… It’s about behaviour.” 

Research director Nicola Legge says, “Influence is not as simple as one might believe. From the public’s perspective, there are many angles to influence that make it complex and multi-dimensional.

“In order for a brand to exert influence it needs to impact or change the way people shop, think, act or behave. It needs to become a fundamental part of life, shape consumer’s wants and needs and help consumers get through their day.”

Thomason says he’s waiting to see how top placings change in the coming years, seeing as this is the first time Ipsos has done the survey in New Zealand.

“What will be most interesting is how it tracks from year to year,” Thomason says.

“If they started a while ago you would’ve seen a big change in online brands moving up, so it’ll be interesting to see what moves around.”

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This article was originally published on our sibling website, TheRegister.co.nz