Business Superbrands Survey Identifies Singapore's Most Respected B2B Brands

The latest findings from Business Superbrands identified over 200 of Singapore's most well-known and respected business brands across 23 different product and services categories. SAP Singapore has been ranked as the most respected B2B brand in SG.

SAP Singapore has been ranked as the most respected B2B brand in Singapore, according to a new survey of leading business brands commissioned by Superbrands and conducted by BDRC Asia during the period 20th - 30th April 2012.

The latest findings from Business Superbrands identified over 200 of Singapore's most well-known and respected business brands across 23 different product and services categories. The brands were then ranked according to the number of business decision-makers identifying the brand as being well known and respected within its field and recognized as having achieved the highest level of excellence.

The panel consisted of over 500 business people identified as key decision-makers or influencers responsible for evaluating, purchasing or using business services or suppliers. The survey covered a broad range of organisations with 13% of respondents working for the public sector, 20% from large Singaporean corporations, 24% from large foreign corporations and 42% from SME's, which broadly reflects the nature of employment in Singapore.

In addition to SAP, the top ten list was dominated by some of the world's biggest and most well-known brands such as IBM and Microsoft which ranked number two and three respectively. However, three home grown Singaporean brands also made it onto the list with SingTel being the highest ranked of these at number five followed by Singapore Airlines at number six and Starhub at number nine. (See Chart 1)

"When building a brand, establishing and maintaining brand reputation is the single most important factor and this applies to all brands whether they are consumer focused or B2B brands. A Business Superbrand has been successful in establishing the highest reputation amongst business decision makers and that is what is reflected in this survey", commented Mark Pointer, CEO, Business Superbrands Singapore.

"The ranking of SAP as Singapore's most respected business brand reflects their increasing brand value in Singapore, and in today's world, it's not so surprising to see the list dominated by technology related brands. Strong B2B brands share common traits: they deliver the value that their customers want and expect from them, and they fulfill their business needs. Additionally, building strong business brands helps to shorten the buyer decision-making process and also helps to maintain the desired perception of the brand over time. So investing in building a strong brand is a very important part of the equation that B2B companies must understand", said Pointer.

Piers Lee, Managing Director of BDRC Asia commented, "Within the survey, we found that the business people influence purchase decisions with, on average, 3.9 different product categories in their organisation; the most common being office equipment (e.g. printers, copiers), software, IT, and telecoms. With Singapore being a hub for the region, business people are in contact with and influence purchase decisions on a range of transport and travel related B2B categories, e.g. airlines, hotels, and distribution. Business people also influence a range of business support services ranging from financial services, HR, and business information services. Singapore is therefore an excellent centre for B2B product and service providers to build the reputations of their brands".


Chart 1. Singapore's Top Ten Most Respected B2B Brands

Rank B2B Brand
1 SAP Singapore
2 IBM
3 Microsoft
4 Canon
5 SingTel
6 Singapore Airlines
7 HP
8 Fuji Xerox
9 Starhub
10 DHL

Source: BDRC - Business Superbrands Survey 2012.

The survey also sought to identify business people's opinions about Business Superbrands and brands associated with the Business Superbrands Logo.

Of the respondents to the survey, 86% said that they are aware of Business Superbrands and that the most common place to see the logo was in print media followed by websites.

An overwhelming majority of respondents (97%) believe that the Business Superbrands logo provides B2B companies with assurances on brand quality and roughly two-thirds (64%) state that the logo is an endorsement of better quality in comparison to other brands within the same business category.

Jacky Tai, Principal Consultant, StrategiCom commented, "Brand reputation is even more important when it comes to B2B companies as B2B products and services tend to be more expensive than consumer ones. Brand reputation is built through two things - credibility (we have done it before) and competence (we know how to do it). More and more B2B companies, local and international, are embarking on building highly-differentiated brands to stand out in a hyper-competitive market and more are using specialised communications platforms such as Business Superbrands to get their brand message across".

81% of survey respondents said that they were more likely to consider engaging business products and services from an organization that had received the Business Superbrands endorsement and the same percentage of people said that they would be more willing to try a new product or service that had been endorsed.

In addition, three-quarters (75%) of business decision-makers said that they would be more likely to recommend a Business Superbrand to their colleagues.

"These figures clearly demonstrate the tangible benefits that the Business Superbrands endorsement can bring to brands and companies. It's quite clear that business decision-makers see the logo as a mark of approval and as a credible endorsement of brand quality, reliability, trust and reputation when it comes to making decisions about service providers and suppliers", said Pointer.

Piers Lee from BDRC Asia added, "Let's not forget that business decision-makers have a consumer psychology and can be influenced by business branding in a similar way to consumer branding. The vast majority states that the Business Superbrands endorsement provides them reassurances of brand value and product quality and this reinforces the need for business brand owners to enhance their brand identities and B2B product propositions".

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Tags: B2B brands, Business Superbrands Singapore, Most respected Business brands


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