The brands that Australian consumers have trusted the most throughout the COVID-19 lockdown are Bunnings, Woolworths and Qantas.
The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor reveals that year-on-year Qantas lifted two trust rankings, and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) entered the top 10 most trusted brands for the first time since the Financial Services Royal Commission.
“It’s only a few weeks since we were in lockdown and desperately trying to get to the supermarkets for essentials,” says Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine.
“And despite accusations of price gouging, delivery problems, and supply chain failures, Woolworths rode the storm best and came out really trusted by Australians.”
“This is also a great result for Bunnings,” explains Ms Levine.
“Australian’s just love it – even when they can’t have a sausage sizzle. Bunnings keeps innovating and creating new connections with its customers. It’s a global retail case study.”
Top 10 Most Trusted Brands ranked:
- Bunnings
- Woolworths
- Qantas
- ALDI
- NRMA
- ABC
- Australia Post
- Coles
- Bendigo Bank
- CBA
The retail sector emerged as Australia’s most trusted industry, with the supermarket and sector 2nd and consumer products 3rd.
On the other hand, Facebook and AMP were revealed as the most distrusted brands in Australia during April 2020.
“AMP still struggles to recover from the Royal Commission fallout. We saw it leap from virtually no distrust to become the second most distrusted brand in the nation,” says Ms Levine.
“As a consequence, AMP’s soaring distrust saw billions of dollars withdrawn from investments under management and the company’s share price plummet by more than 70%.
“That’s the real risk of distrust. It is not just a reputational issue, it has a material impact on a company’s revenues and market value.”
The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor surveys 1000 Australians every month to measure levels of trust and distrust in more than 800 brands across 25 industry sectors.