NEW YORK — Walmart took the top spot in Kantar’s PoweRanking report for the 26th consecutive year, a feat that Kantar calls a testament to the retailer’s strength, scale and focus over time.

PoweRanking is the industry’s leading assessment of best-in-class manufacturers and retailers. Chosen by their peers, leaders are ranked on a range of factors from strategic metrics to business fundamentals. Now in its 26th edition, Kantar looks at how retailers and manufacturers can best innovate and serve consumers in food, drug, mass merchandise, dollar, convenience, specialty, e-commerce and club channels, as well as for manufacturers in food, household products, general merchandise, and health and beauty care categories.

PepsiCo once again stood out among suppliers, ranking No. 1 overall for the seventh consecutive year. The company has been No. 1 in all nine metrics for the last six years.

“Pepsi, Coca-Cola and P&G continued an unprecedented string of partnership characteristics, and Walmart, Target and Kroger set the pace on ecosystem service to their shoppers on the retailer side of the study,” said Patrick Fellen, head of consulting, analytics and applications at Kantar Retail.

The results of the 2022 survey were compared with the previous two years to determine the causes behind shifts in the rankings. This year’s PoweRanking sustainability performance metric showed both retailers and manufacturers eager to move past slogans and buzzwords and instead focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) that is both pragmatic and makes a difference in shoppers’ lives.

Among retailers, Target continued its elevated performance over the past few years to hold its position in the No. 2 overall spot, primarily supported by its No. 1 rankings in both Innovative Marketing and Best Store Branding. Outside of Walmart, the retail industry’s overall top five is rounded out by the expected giants leading once again — Kroger, Amazon and Costco — showing stability across the board for this category. A sample of supplier comments about the top retailers:

• “Walmart continues to be No. 1 in supply chain management due to its data, real-time inventory visibility and collaboration.”

• “Due to their strength in general merchandise, Target has the best maturity with respect to reaching their guests digitally.”

• “Kroger is still the best with leveraging shopper data, executing based upon it, and building a vision for the future.”

• “Amazon has a massive digital advertising business, and their Amazon advertising team has some very strong analytical capabilities that have helped us understand how brands are shopped in their ecosystem.”

• “Costco’s strategy has not changed. They are all about driving value for their members through everyday pricing and innovation.”

Fellen called it an outstanding achievement for all brands within the top 10. “Walmart remaining strong in the No. 1 spot for over a quarter of a century is an impressive feat, given the drastic landscape change brought upon by Amazon in recent years. PepsiCo has doubled down, facing retail realities across their entire retail-partnership base, providing clear strategy, bringing insights that matter, thinking category-first with retail partners,” added Fellen.

The manufacturer’s side for the report outlines a top five consisting of household names recognized for their performance in the sustainability metric. These brands include: Coca-Cola, P&G, Nestlé and Unilever, with both Nestlé and Unilever jumping three spots each from last year’s rankings.

In the report’s closing statement, Fellen said the U.S. retail industry is more exciting and important than ever. “Best-in-class leadership abounds. Partnership, growth, opportunity identification, creating meaningful value for shoppers despite inflation, and innovation that inspires and makes sense remain key areas that showcase who is best in class in U.S. retail. The reality of an approaching 2023 is that the challenges will remain. Best-in-class performance in U.S. retail will continue to face those realities head on and create value and promise for shoppers in the reality of their everyday lives.”