According to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands survey, Alibaba has overtaken Amazon to the top spot for the first time.
Amazon, which remains ahead of retail giants such as Walmart, saw a 3% decrease in its value to $62.3 billion, whilst Walmart is worth $35.2 billion and has 11,000 stores all over the world.
Other discount retailers have also seen strong growth, such as Lidl which increased 27% to $6.0 billion and Aldi increased 22% to $11.7 billion.
Global BrandZ valuation director at Millward Brown, Elspeth Cheung, said: “As retailers continue to fight off fierce price competition and operate in a category undergoing a radical transformation, there’s an underlying urgency to remain relevant to shoppers. Adopting a shopper-first attitude is not enough; retailers also need to create meaningful and differentiated brands if they want to find a path to growth.”
Analysts expect China to overtake the US to be the world’s biggest retail market in the next five years.
The Top 100 also shows that technology is the quickest growing category increasing by 24% in the last year. They have stated that technology brands are valued at more than $1 trillion.