Marks and Spencer is favourite brand among women

British women have named Marks and Spencer as the brand with the “best impression”, according to new research from YouGov.

The high street chain scored 58 in the BrandIndex surveys of around 2,000 women, beating off competition from fellow retail favourite John Lewis, which scored 54. The rest of the top five was made up of Heinz, health and beauty retailer Boots and BBC One.

While Marks and Spencer topped the list for those aged 34-54, and for the 55+, younger women have favourable impressions of different brands. Under-35s named Swedish furniture retailer Ikea as the brand making the best impression, followed by Ben and Jerry’s, Boots, Heinz and YouTube.

YouGov BrandIndex director Michael Stacey said: "Despite reports of Marks and Spencer enduring a troubling time, particularly with regards to fashion, our findings indicate that underlying brand perception remains strong among women - which could be key if retail conditions deteriorate in the months ahead, as some analysts expect.”

In terms of brands where women’s impression have improved most over the past year, Tesco came out on top with an improvement of 13 points. Followed by holiday operator Thomas Cook, HSBC, WhatsApp and catch-up service All4.