Harris Poll: Regional grocer unseats Amazon to claim top corporate reputation ranking
NEW YORK — Wegmans Food Markets, a Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer with just 85 stores and one-tenth of Amazon's revenues, edged past the online retailer to reach the top spot for corporate reputation among the 100 most visible companies, according to the 16th annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study.
"Reputation is far from static and is a business asset that is earned every day as people evaluate companies through the lens of what matters most to them. Wegmans has spent years building a sterling reputation in the communities they serve, through its employees, one shopping experience at a time," said Carol Gstalder, reputation and public relations practice leader for Harris Poll.
Harris Poll expanded the list to 100 companies this year, up from 60, to offer deeper insight by industry. As a result, three of the top 10 companies are debuting on the list, including No. 1 Wegmans, No. 7 L.L. Bean and No. 8 Publix Supermarkets.
"Expanding the study allows companies to see how they stack up within their industry, as well as compared to best in class reputations across industries," Gstalder said.
The reputations of the 100 most visible companies range from excellent (scores of 80+) to poor (scores of 50 to 64). A total of 12 companies earned excellent scores, including the rest of the top 10 with Costco at No. 4, up from No. 6 in 2014, and No. 5 Johnson & Johnson and No. 6 Kraft, both moving back into the top tier after falling out of it in 2014 and 2013, respectively.
The annual Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study was conducted online among 27,278 U.S. respondents from Oct. 20 to Dec. 18, 2014, with preliminary nominating waves of research conducted with 4,034 respondents across Aug. 26 to 28, 2014 and Sept. 24 to 26, 2014.
2015 RQ RANK/RQ Score
1 Wegmans Food Markets* 84.36
2 Amazon.com 83.72
3 Samsung 81.98
4 Costco 81.69
5 Johnson & Johnson 80.88
6 Kraft Foods 80.83
7 L.L. Bean* 80.78
8 Publix Supermarkets* 80.73
9 Apple 80.69
10 Google 80.44
11 Berkshire Hathaway* 80.28
12 The Walt Disney Company 80.04
13 Sony 79.93
14 CVS (CVS Health)* 79.83
15 Microsoft 79.74
16 Lowe's 79.48
17 Kellogg Company* 79.25
18 Chick-Fil-A 78.96
19 The Boeing Company* 78.93
20 Intel Corporation* 78.54
21 Whole Foods Market 78.47
22 USAA 78.22
23 LG Corporation* 78.20
24 Procter & Gamble Co. 78.08
25 Nike 77.88
26 Unilever* 77.80
27 Whirlpool Corporation* 77.54
28 General Mills* 76.88
29 Honda Motor Company 76.80
30 Nestle* 76.45
31 Starbucks Corporation 76.32
32 The Kroger Company* 76.29
33 Wendy's* 75.94
34 The Coca-Cola Company 75.89
35 Fidelity Investments* 75.69
36 PepsiCo 75.59
37 FedEx Corporation* 75.53
38 The Home Depot 75.38
39 Meijer's* 75.37
40 IBM 75.32
41 Hewlett-Packard Company 75.26
42 Kohl's 75.17
43 eBay* 75.14
44 Aldi* 74.78
45 General Electric 74.77
46 Southwest Airlines 74.76
47 Nordstrom 74.46
48 Ford Motor Company 74.32
49 Toyota Motor Corporation 74.01
50 Progressive Corporation* 73.79
51 State Farm Insurance* 73.61
52 Macy's 73.16
53 DuPont* 73.09
54 Walgreens* 72.80
55 American Express* 72.63
56 YUM! Brands* 72.60
57 Nissan Motor Corporation* 72.60
58 Hobby Lobby* 72.51
59 Best Buy 72.28
60 Dell 72.13
61 JCPenney 71.61
62 The Allstate Corporation 71.03
63 Target 70.99
64 Hyundai Motor Company 70.97
65 21st Century Fox* 70.14
66 Verizon Communications 69.74
67 Safeway* 69.70
68 Blue Cross Blue Shield* 69.50
69 Unites States Postal Service* 69.49
70 Royal Dutch Shell 68.92
71 McDonald's 67.77
72 Sprint Corporation 67.66
73 Altria Group* 67.65
74 Wells Fargo & Company 67.55
75 T-Mobile 67.54
76 AT&T 67.26
77 Facebook 67.17
78 Chevron* 67.09
79 Delta Air Lines* 66.52
80 Burger King* 66.23
81 Chrysler Corporation 65.76
82 ExxonMobil 65.43
83 DirecTV* 65.27
84 Walmart 65.05
85 Time Warner 64.93
86 United Airlines* 64.91
87 JPMorgan Chase & Co. 63.98
88 General Motors 63.89
89 Citigroup 62.19
90 BP 62.01
91 Bank of America 60.73
92 Charter Communications* 60.30
93 Comcast 60.04
94 Koch Industries* 59.89
95 Sears Holdings Corporation 59.79
96 Halliburton 59.63
97 Monsanto 59.18
98 Dish Network 58.07
99 AIG 55.23
100 Goldman Sachs 55.07
* New to Most Visible List this year (not in 60 Most Visible 2014)
Guide to RQ Scores:
80 and above: Excellent
75-79: Very Good
70-74: Good
65-69: Fair
55-64: Poor
50-54: Very Poor
Below 50: Critical
Click here to view the 16th Annual RQ Summary Report.