UK retailers Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Boots have made been named among the top ten British brands in YouGov’s Best Brands Ranking, released last week.

Marks & Spencer was recognised as the UK’s strongest brand, achieving an overall score of 52.7 and topping six of the seven measured categories, including overall index, impression, quality, reputation, satisfaction and recommendation, losing out only on value to IKEA.

M&S was also ranked the UK’s most trusted retailer in 2025, based on consumer research conducted by data and analytics company GlobalData, despite last years cyber attack which left shoppers unable to buy online from the company for months. 

After Marks & Spencer, IKEA, Samsung, John Lewis and Netflix completed the top five ranking brands in the UK, with Boots taking ninth place overall.

John Lewis ranked fourth overall, with an index score of 42.2, underpinned by strong perceptions of quality (59.0) and reputation (44.0), but scoring lower on value (17.8).

Boots received relatively high customer satisfaction (50.7) and impression (48.4), but weaker results across value (24.3) and reputation (23.8).

There were no UK retail brands in the global top 10, which was topped by messaging app WhatsApp. The only retailers to feature globally were Adidas (fifth) and Nike (sixth).

Stephan Shakespeare, chief executive and co-founder of YouGov, said: “Strong brands don’t just perform, they connect. YouGov’s Best Brand Rankings highlight the companies that have enjoyed lasting consumer appeal over the past 12 months.”

Post Office tops UK’s most improved brands

The tracker also indexes the UK’s 10 most-improved brands, based on year-on-year increases in Index stores.

The Post Office took the top sport, recording an 8.9 point year-on-year increase, driven by rising satisfaction and improving public perception following the sub-postmaster scandal.

Royal Mail and Fujitsu, both businesses linked to the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, ranked second and third respectively. The full list of the UK’s ten most improved brands, in order is:

• Post Office
• Royal Mail
• Fujitsu
• J D Wetherspoon
• Hentry
• British Gas
• Nationwide
• Octopus Energy
• Tesco Clubcard
• Cruzcampo

YouGov says the rankings are derived from its BrandIndex tracking tool, which provides “always-on” measurement across key brand health metrics to track public perception over time. 

The results were based on more than six million consumer surveys across 28 markets, with rankings calculated brands’ Index scores between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025.