Lotus’s Named Thailand’s No. 1 Social Power Brand 2026 Reinforcing Its Consumer-Centric Branding Strategy by Turning Consumer Voices into a Driving Force for the Brand

From Social Listening to Content-to-Commerce Transformation, Lotus’s Goes Beyond Using Social Media to Build Relationships, Understand Consumer Insights and Turn Every Conversation into a Business Opportunity

In an era when brand power is no longer measured solely by how loudly a brand communicates, but also by how consumers choose to talk about, share their experiences with and engage in conversations about it, success on social media depends not on how much content a brand produces, but on how meaningfully it becomes part of consumers’ lives and everyday conversations.

Lotus’s, a leading retail business under CP AXTRA Public Company Limited (CP AXTRA), reflects this approach by securing No. 1 in the Superstores and Supermarkets category at the Thailand’s Social Power Brand 2026 awards, organized by BrandAge magazine, and achieved the highest User Voice score of 100 points. The result reflects the strength of a brand built through authentic consumer voices and organic online engagement rather than one-way communications.

The award reflects how Lotus’s evolving brand-building strategy has evolved beyond traditional marketing. Rather than simply communicating with consumers, the brand listens to them and uses what it hears to develop products, content and shopping experiences that genuinely meet their everyday needs.

When Consumer Voices Are More Powerful Than Brand Voices

Social media has become a space where consumers shape conversations about brands, reviewing products, sharing their latest finds and openly discussing their shopping experiences.

For Lotus’s, these conversations are a source of Consumer Intelligence that help the brand understand consumers’ needs, expectations and changing behaviors.

A key part of this approach is “Review Lotus,” a Facebook community with more than 5.4 million members, where consumers can exchange opinions, review products and share their experiences. Lotus’s acts as an active listener rather than trying to control every conversation.

This marks a shift from Brand-Led Communication to Consumer-Led Conversation, giving consumers an active role in shaping the meaning and value of the brand. In today's marketing landscape, the most powerful voice may not be what a brand says about itself, but what consumers are willing to say about it.

Lotus’s strategy also draws on one of its key retail strengths: its employees’ close, everyday interactions with customers. This is further developed through KOEs (Key Opinion Employees), an initiative that empowers more than 300 employees at branches nationwide to become content creators, sharing product stories and real-life experiences from the perspectives of people working on the front lines.

Store employees know the products and understand the preferences and needs of customers in their local communities, so the content they create is authentic and relatable. It links products that are gaining attention on social media with what customers can find and buy in store, connecting Social Egagement with the Shopping Experience. As a result, content goes beyond views and engagement to improve the customer experiences and generate business opportunities.

With social media trends emerging and evolve rapidly, brands also face the challenge of staying relevant while remaining true to their brand identity. Joining every conversation may generate short-term visibility, but it does not necessarily create long-term brand value.

Ms. Vorawan Phianlikhitwong, Chief Transformation Officer, CP AXTRA Public Company Limited, shared Lotus’s approach to communication:

“We don't need to jump on every trend. Even if a trend is gaining significant attention, if it is not relevant to the brand or does not give customers anything they can act on, there is no need to participate.”

This philosophy is reflected in the brand’s three-lens strategic framework:

• Relevant: The trend must be relevant to both the brand and its consumers.
• Owned: The brand must have its own clear perspective or point of view.
• Actionable: The content must encourage consumers to take action or deliver tangible benefits to them.

Together, these three elements reflect an approach to Purposeful Social Marketing that prioritizes the quality and meaning of engagement over simply chasing trends to generate engagement numbers. For Lotus’s, successful content is not about participating in every trend, but about choosing conversations that align with the brand and turning consumer interest into meaningful experiences.

Securing No. 1 at the Thailand’s Social Power Brand 2026 awards, together with a perfect User Voice score of 100, therefore represents more than recognition of the brand’s influence on social media. It also reflects the direction of modern retail brand-building, with consumers genuinely at the center. From listening to a large online community and empowering employees to become creators who are closely connected to customers, to linking content with shopping experiences, every element works towards the same goal: building a brand that does not simply reach consumers, but understands them and becomes a natural part of their everyday lives.

This is at the heart of the strategy driving Lotus’s forward—not only as a retail business leader, but also as a “Trusted Friend” that listens, understands and grows alongside consumers through every conversation, every piece of content and every shopping experience.