El Corte Inglés ranks second in terms of best corporate reputation, after a bank
What: El Corte Inglés ranks second in Spain's corporate reputation index for 2024, with a 91% score.
Why it is important: The strong reputation score highlights the retailer's ability to maintain brand value and consumer confidence, crucial factors in today's competitive market where reputation directly impacts purchasing decisions.
El Corte Inglés has secured the second position in Spain's corporate reputation ranking for 2024, achieving a 91% score. This places the retail giant just behind Fundación La Caixa (95%) in a study conducted by Advice Strategic Consultants. The top ten list includes other major companies such as CaixaBank, Inditex, and Telefónica.
The study analyzed 40 factors grouped into three main constructs: business success, social commitment, and trust. For El Corte Inglés, business success carries the most weight (40%), followed by trust (35%) and social commitment (15%). This contrasts with Fundación La Caixa, where social commitment is the primary driver of its reputation.
Jorge Díaz Cardiel, partner-director of Advice Strategic Consultants, emphasizes that corporate reputation in 2024 is not merely theoretical but has tangible effects on consumer behavior. It influences decisions to purchase products and services, recommend them to others, and impacts companies' bottom lines.
This high ranking comes at a time when El Corte Inglés has shown strong financial performance, with recent fiscal results demonstrating significant growth in turnover and profitability, despite challenges in the retail sector.
IADS Notes:
El Corte Inglés has demonstrated remarkable financial and strategic resilience in recent years. The company's 2023-2024 fiscal results show significant growth, with turnover reaching EUR 15,327 million, a 22.5% increase, and record-breaking EBITDA and net results. This success comes despite challenges such as the rise of e-commerce and the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has focused on improving profitability and reducing debt, bringing it down from EUR 5 billion to around EUR 2 billion. Looking ahead, El Corte Inglés is preparing a new strategic plan through 2030, emphasizing traditional retail with increased digitalization. Additionally, the company has shown commitment to sustainability by increasing its sustainable product offerings by 8.5%, implementing internal protocols for sustainable procurement and production.
