Retailers dominate Australia’s Most Trusted Brands rankings

Retailers continue to lead when it comes to consumer trust, occupying the top eight spots in Roy Morgan’s most recent Net Trust ranking.

The market research firm analyzed nominations from more than 22,000 Australians to identify the country’s most trusted brands – and least trusted.

According to the list, Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings, Aldi and Kmart were the top five most trusted brands for the fifth consecutive quarter. The next three spots were Myer, Apple and Big W. Australia Post and Toyota completed the top 10.

At the other end of the table, Harvey Norman was the sixth most distrusted brand – down one place from the previous quarter – and Amazon was fourth, the two retailers split only by Newscorp.

National carrier Qantas – previously highly trusted in the September quarter – plummeted to 40th on the list after a spate of flight delays and cancellations, soaring ticket prices and rising cases of lost luggage.

Likewise, Optus — which suffered a data breach last year — is now the second most distrusted brand for the December quarter, with Meta taking last place.

Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan, said that as scandals mount, brands need to “be aware of the dangers of distrust”.

“What we see with brands that suffer from major scandals is that once suspicion has taken root, it’s very difficult to contain it,” Levine said. “The first step in restoring trust is removing distrust.”

This story first appeared in our sister publication At retail