Chinese brands show strong momentum post-pandemic

Chinese brands have pulled through the pandemic and its impact with both established brands and newcomers gaining momentum, the latest Kantar BrandZ China Top 100 ranking shows.

With total brand value at US$1.01 trillion, down 18.8 percent from last year's US$1.24 trillion, the total value is still 13 percent higher than in 2019.

That was also a slower decline pace compared with the top global listings, which dropped 20 percent of their value in the year.

Ti Gong

Tencent retains the top spot for the third year running with US$144 billion brand value, and fashion and apparel e-tailer Shein stood in 12th place, the highest ranking newcomer with brand value of US$21.6 billion.

"As economic recovery is progressing along a winding zig-zag road instead of a V-shaped rebound, and brands have dedicated more efforts to upgrade quality, amid increasingly discerning shopping behavior," said Doreen Wang, Kantar China chief executive and global chair of Kantar BrandZ.

In addition to a unique demographic advantage which allows local brands to directly access the world's most attractive and dynamic consumer market, Chinese brands are also expected to enjoy expanded access to consumers abroad, the study points out. These factors suggest that Chinese brands will not only survive, but thrive in the future.

The other giants in the top five include established brands and leading digital players Alibaba, Moutai, Douyin, and China Mobile.

Eleven brands are newcomers or re-entries and six are making their debut, according to the calculation based on stock price performance and corporate market valuation in the 12 months that ended March 2023.

With new entrants in nine different categories, it is a clear signal that despite the dominant position of large established players, newcomers are still proving there are many different routes to building a well-known brand in today's China.

The largest category by total brand value is Media and Entertainment, with 11 brands and a total value of US$241.4 billion, followed by Retail at US$136 billion.

Booking site Trip.com grew 31 percent in value and advanced 25 places, while China Southern Airlines grew its brand value by 22 percent, as travel services showed the most evident rebound amid normalization of travel.

Anta and Li-Ning in the apparel category also benefited from Chinese shoppers' strong preference and support for national brands.