It’s official: Bunnings is Australia’s most trusted brand, with Coles the big mover

Over the 12 months to 30 April 2020, Bunnings, ALDI, Woolworths and Coles were selected by Australians as the country’s most trusted brands – with Coles the big mover.

Roy Morgan today announced that over the year, including the COVID-19 lockdown, Bunnings emerged as Australia’s most trusted brand. ALDI was the 2nd most trusted brand, with Woolworths 3rd and Coles 4th.

The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor reveals that year-on-year Coles lifted three trust rankings. 

According to Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine, “Coles was the fastest mover over the 12 months ending 30 April, to be neck and neck with Woolworths for the first time.

“Bunnings is, however, the standout in the results. Bunnings keeps innovating and creating new connections with its customers,” she said. 

Coles CMO Lisa Ronson said, “This is a wonderful acknowledgement for our wonderful members of our Coles family who have been on the front line under the most challenging of circumstances. 

“The result vindicates our decision back when COVID first struck to become totally focused on our Team and on what our customers and community really needed, and ultimately on our purpose to sustainably feed all Australians to lead healthier and happier lives.”

NRMA emerged as Australia’s most trusted insurer – and its most trusted financial services brand. 

The ABC emerged as the most trusted media brand in the country.

Source: Roy Morgan Risk Monitor – May 2019 - April 2020

Unsurprisingly given the top-4 most trusted brands, the retail sector emerged as Australia’s most trusted industry, with the supermarket sector 2nd and consumer products 3rd.

On the flipside, Facebook, Telstra 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,” Ms Levine said.

“As a consequence, AMP’s soaring distrust saw billions of dollars withdrawn from investments under management and the company’s share price plummet by more than 70%.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,” she said.

The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor surveys 1,000 Australians every month to measure levels of trust and distrust in more than 800 brands across 25 industry sectors. Respondents are asked which brands and companies they trust, and why, and which brand and companies they distrust, and why. The survey is specially designed to be open-ended and context-free, i.e. unprompted.

Roy Morgan Risk Monitor data is made available in a variety of formats, from snapshot overviews to detailed tracking of individual brands and their competitors.

To learn more call (+61) (3) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.

View the Risk Report.