Testing the Limits of Brand Power: Nivea in an Inflated Economy

For a long time, the rules for selling everyday consumer goods were simple. Companies built a brand, people trusted it, and customers happily paid a higher price for it. When people had extra money in their pockets, they were happy to pay more for brand loyalty.

But lately, I have seen inflation change everything. Prices went up a lot, and people lost their extra spending money. So, what did they do? They tried cheaper store brands. And they found out these cheaper products were perfectly "fine."

As a retail expert, I know that "fine" is a very dangerous word. If a customer finds a cheap store brand that works fine, they do not need your expensive brand anymore. The trust and loyalty you built over many decades can disappear very fast.

Brand loyalty is not something you own forever anymore. It is something you just rent, and inflation made the rent too high. I call this new time the "Engagement Era," where true brand loyalty has dropped to its lowest point in five years, and now only 68% of consumers say they are loyal to any specific brand.

A recent 2026 study I read by Simon-Kucher surveyed 14,000 people and found that this shift is permanent. Almost half of all shoppers (47%) now buy mostly store brands, while only 16% still focus on big name brands. Even worse for big companies, 57% of people now believe branded products are overpriced without giving any real benefit, and 39% think branding is just a "money-making scheme". The most famous example of this crisis right now is Beiersdorf, the company that makes Nivea. Let me explain what is happening to them and what it means for all of us.

Beiersdorf is usually seen as a very safe and stable company. But recently, I watched their stock price drop by more than 40%, hitting its lowest point in over ten years. In March 2026, I saw the stock price fall all the way down to the low €70s, which is a massive drop from when it was trading much higher a few years ago. In 2024, the company's total market value was €27.6 billion, but by the end of 2025, it had dropped to just €20.4 billion.

Why did this happen? In early 2026, the company shared some very bad news. While their overall group sales dropped 4.6% to €2.48 billion , the consumer business (which includes Nivea) fell to €2.07 billion , and Nivea's sales fell by a massive 7.0% in the first quarter. Other brands in the company suffered too; their luxury brand La Prairie dropped by 14.9%.