COVID-19 crisis shakes up brand value ranking

Brand value rankings of companies in South Korea are facing an upheaval as the COVID-19 crisis is greatly influencing the consumption patterns, a local poll showed Tuesday.

According to the BrandStock Top Index of Brandstock, e-commerce platform operators are seeing a boost in their value, reflecting the increased amount of time people are spending at home, due to social distancing and remote working.

Leading e-commerce platform Coupang witnessed its rank jump from No. 54 at the end last year to 42 in the first quarter. Gmarket and Auction, online vendors operated by eBay, scaled up to stand at No. 11 and 26, respectively, with Auction climbing 16 spots from last year.

On the other hand, the prolonging pandemic came as a blow to offline brands. E-mart, which stood at No. 2 in last year’s BSTI, edged down to third in the first quarter.

Retail brands affiliated with Lotte Group also saw their ranks drop. Lotte Himart, the home appliance store that stood at 10th on last year’s list, fell to No. 13 this year, while Lotte Mart and Lotte Department Store also witnessed a drop, from 13 to 26 and 23 to 48, respectively.

The brand value of Shinsegae Department Store also declined from 33 to 51, and Hyundai Department Store dropped from 56 to 63. Hypermarket chain Homeplus ranked 71 on the list, fell from 50.

The pandemic outbreak has also taken a toll on airlines and travel-related companies. Incheon International Airport, which stood at No. 5 in last year’s BSTI came down to No. 9 while flag carrier Korean Air slipped 16 notches to No. 50 and Asiana Airlines fell 23 spots to 55.

The Samsung Galaxy smartphone brand maintained its top position in the BSTI for the first quarter of 2020, while KakaoTalk stood at second. Naver climbed four spots to post No. 5.

“Consumption slowed overall due to the COVID-19 outbreak, leading to downward leveling of brand value for many companies,” Brandstock said.

“These companies should be more attentive in improving their brand value so that they can handle possible worst-case scenarios.” 

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)