Bunnings retains spot as Australia’s most trusted brand while Woolworths and Coles slide down the rankings
It’s official: Bunnings has again been crowned the most trusted brand in the 12 months to March 2024 after returning to the top spot in the final quarter of 2023.
The ubiquitous hardware chain has increased its lead as Australia’s most trusted brand as previous leader Woolworths plunged from second spot in the last report, down 32 places to 34th most trusted overall.
Rival major supermarket brand Coles has continued its fall from grace, down from the fifth most trusted brand in the 12 months to December 2023 to the ninth most distrusted brand in the current rankings – an unprecedented fall of 221 places in the rankings.
Proving not all supermarkets are the same, or under the same scrutiny, is the impressive performance of Aldi, now Australia’s second most trusted brand, marginally ahead of discount department store Kmart in third place.
As a result of Coles and Woolworths dropping out of the top 20 most trusted brands, all brands other than ING bank moved up in ranking. The biggest mover in the top 20 is Australia Post which improved four spots to rank sixth, just outside the top 5 behind tech giant Apple and car manufacturer Toyota.
According to Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine,
‘The fate of Woolworths and Coles reveals how quickly distrust can gain momentum and negatively impact a brand’s reputation. There’s an old Dutch saying that trust arrives on foot but leaves on horseback. In other words, trust is slow to win but quick to lose.
‘The results serve as a salutary reminder for Bunnings which has retained high levels of trust based on extensive goodwill and reputational strength combined with a fairly stable, and minimal, level of distrust.’
Australian distrust for companies has grown significantly in the last year as cost-of- living concerns and high inflation have increased concern about companies being motivated by high profits and corporate greed, excessive price hikes, dishonesty and not being focused enough on putting the customer first.
Australians have told us in their own words why they distrust some of Australia’s leading brands:
“They are all about making the most profit by whatever means they can.”
“Profits before people, there’s too much use of overseas call centres.”
“They are more concerned about their profits for shareholders than their customers.”
“Value profit over ethics. Hard for a consumer to know if they’re getting a good deal.”
“They have no interest in me whatsoever. Zero relationship with them after my loyalty for 20 plus years and now purely run by algorithms. Just hopeless.”
“Such poor customer service. When things go wrong it’s difficult to get a resolution in a timely manner.”
“I have personal experience of poor systems and bad customer service as well as heartless and devious senior management regarding staffing decisions.”
“If you are communicating by phone or email, you never seem to talk to the same person twice and often don’t know what the previous person has done (or not done!).”
“Price gouging and not enough capacity in Australia. Too dependent on overseas providers.”
“Charging ridiculously high fees which rise each year by more than the rate of inflation.”
“Prices increase, but if you then complain they will suddenly give you a discount.”
“Grocery prices are quite high in comparison to other chains and contrary to their advertising.”
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Risk Monitor, 12-month average to March 2024. Base: Australians 14+, n=24,663. Arrows with numbers show ranking change since December 2023.Green shading highlights ranking improvements for trusted brands, and red shading highlights ranking deterioration for distrusted brands.
Trusted Brands
Bunnings (1st) has retained top spot as the most trusted brand in the March quarter while other brands have benefited in the rankings due to the big slide in the rankings by both the major supermarkets.
ALDI (2nd) and Kmart (3rd) have both increased by one place to fill out the top three most trusted brands while Apple (4th) and Toyota (5th) are up two places each to enter the top five most trusted brands.
The big mover at the top is Australia Post (6th), up four spots to sixth, while there have been improvements for the NRMA (9th) and Samsung (10th), both up two places to enter the top ten.
Within the top 20, the three brands to show the most impressive results, by increasing by three spots each, are JB Hi-Fi (11th), Commonwealth Bank (16th) and RAC (17th). In addition, five brands have increased their rankings by two places, led by Bendigo Bank (13th), IGA (14th), ABC (15th) and the new entrants to the top twenty most trusted brands: David Jones (19th) and RACQ (20th).
The major supermarkets are the two biggest sliders with Woolworths (34th) down 32 places, and Coles (9th most distrusted) down a massive 221 spots.
In the March quarter 2024 the biggest improvers in the trust rankings overall are Nintendo (up 33 places), Cotton On (up 23 places) and YOUI (up 18 places).
Speaking on Nintendo’s rapid rise, Michele explains that
‘Nintendo has developed a good reputation with consumers who credit the company for ‘always supporting the players’, ‘making devices that don’t break,’ providing ‘good personal service’ and ‘making great family friendly and kids’ games’ – leading to a sharp rise in the console maker’s trust rankings in the most recent rankings.’
Distrusted Brands
Telecommunications company Optus remains the most distrusted brand in Australia for a third straight quarter. It is again followed by social media giant Facebook/Meta, embattled airline Qantas, telecommunications giant Telstra and media company News Corp. All have faced significant scandals in recent years that have led to high and enduring levels of distrust in the community.
Among the sliders during the March quarter are Amazon (6th), down two spots, X (formerly Twitter) (7th), down one spot, Coles (9th), down a record-breaking 221 places from last quarter.
Other new entrants to the 20 most distrusted brands in Australia are Temu, deteriorating from 28th most distrusted to 18th most distrusted, and Tesla deteriorating from 24th to 17th most distrusted. However, the second biggest slider during the March quarter was NAB (29th), after deteriorating by 42 spots.
In positive news, those to improve their positions include Medibank (11th) and Jetstar (19th), both improving by five spots, PWC (20th), improving four places, and Shell (16th), improving three positions. Roy Morgan’s upcoming deep-dive survey into trust and distrust in private health insurance will reveal further insights into perceptions of Medibank and other players in this important sector.
Michele Levine notes one entrant to the top 20 most distrusted is attracting increasing criticism:
‘the ultra-cheap Chinese based online retailer Temu is attracting a fair share of negative criticism after bursting onto the Australian retail scene recently with accusations that ‘their pictures are not what you get’, ‘their products seem dodgy and of poor quality,’ ‘they collect the data of their customers,’ ‘they’re an organisation full of scammers’ and that the low prices means they must be ‘underpaying staff.’
Increase in distrust driven by focus on corporate profits and not putting customers first
A focus on huge profits and not putting the customer first, as well as widespread price gouging, especially by big banks and the major supermarkets, has driven a rising level of distrust across the economy.
Previously, big banks have made large profit announcements, which went largely unremarked. However, over the last year with ongoing mortgage rate increases and cost-of-living pressures, Australians are increasingly outraged that banks are making huge profits at their expense.
This has led to a sharp decline in trust toward these companies. Similarly, supermarkets, and especially the two major supermarkets, have faced criticism for being too profit-driven.
Not being customer focused, providing bad service as well as rip-off prices and excessive price hikes are also key factors in rising distrust. These insights highlight the importance of businesses prioritising ethical behaviour and transparency to rebuild consumer trust and restore confidence in the business community.
CEO Michele Levine elaborates:
’Soaring distrust has been driven by companies focusing too much on corporate profits and leaving the customer behind. Hiking prices to maintain profit levels is increasingly being seen as taking advantage of customer loyalty and leading to rising levels of distrust across the economy – and especially for banks and supermarkets.”
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Risk Monitor, 12-month average to March 2024. Base: Australians 14+, Latest 12-month average n=24,663. Distrust Reason - Too motivated by profit n=6,687.
View the March 2024 Quarterly Update – Trust and Distrust Webinar
Subscribe to Roy Morgan’s YouTube channel to ensure you don’t miss our next webinar on trust and distrust: https://www.youtube.com/c/roymorganaus. The Risk Report with rankings of over 200 brands and analysis by industry is now available for purchase here. Trust and Distrust Webinar Reports with insights into trust and distrust across various industries are available here.
The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor surveys approximately 2,000 Australians every month (around 25,000 per year) to measure levels of trust and distrust of around 1,000 brands across 26 industries. Respondents are asked which brands they trust, and why, and which brands they distrust, and why. The survey is designed to be open-ended, context-free, and unprompted. Roy Morgan Risk Monitor data is available in a variety of formats, from snapshot overviews to detailed tracking of individual brands and competitors. Industry Trust and Distrust Deep dive Surveys are also conducted (e.g. Upcoming Private Health Insurance and Agribusiness Surveys, Telco, Utilities, Insurance, Life Insurance, Banking, Media, Retail, Real Estate, etc.) for deep insights into brand health, perceptions of, and customer experience (CX) with brands.
To learn more call (+61) (3) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
