Coca-Cola tops Euromonitor list of global megabrands

Coca-Cola has topped Euromonitor International’s list of worldwide megabrands, pushing bitter rivals Pepsi into second place.

The global market research company has just unveiled its list of top 100 megabrands. It ranked the world’s leading FMCG brands by retail sales value in 2017.

The report found that global FMCG sales reached US$4.2 trillion ($5.9 trillion) in 2018. Asia Pacific accounted for the biggest share at 29.5 per cent. It was followed by North America at 21.2 per cent and Western Europe at 21.1 per cent.

Euromonitor’s top five megabrands

According to Euromonitor International’s report, the top five megabrands are:

1. Coca-Cola – the world’s largest FMCG brand. Latin America accounts for 40 per cent of the company’s global sales. Mexico is the single most important country for the brand.
2. Pepsi – the world’s second-largest soft drinks brand behind Coca-Cola. The US drove Pepsi’s success at USD3.5 billion ($5 billion) sales in 2017.
3. Nescafé – the leading hot drinks brand worldwide. Asia Pacific accounted for a third of Nescafé’s total retail sales in 2017. Japan ranked as the top country for hot drink sales.
4. Lay’s – the world’s leading packaged-food brand. The US led with sales of more than US$6 billion ($8.5 billion) in 2017. That’s more than in Lay’s 20 next most successful countries – combined.
5. L’Oréal Paris – the world’s leading beauty and personal care brand by sales. The US is the top country for sales, followed by China. The Asian giant is forecast to increase beauty and personal care sales by over 40 per cent by 2022.

Online ‘having a profound impact’

Euromonitor International Industry Manager Tom Rees says that although the top-ranked brands haven’t really changed, markets are nevertheless evolving.

“While several major brands have maintained their ranking for some time, the balance across the list is shifting,” he said.

“People’s attitudes to health and premiumisation are evolving and brands that cannot meet new realities have lost out. Changes in how people research and shop online are having a profound impact.

“Also, the importance of different regions of the world has changed for many of these megabrands. This raises the question of where companies should focus their resources most effectively.”