Australian department store Myer has nudged up to the sixth position in the latest Roy Morgan ‘Net Trust’ rankings, taking over Apple and edging closer to Kmart’s fifth position in the September to December quarter.
The top ten most-trusted retailers in order include, Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings, Aldi, Kmart, Myer, Apple, Big W, Australia Post and Toyota.
The top five most trusted brands are unchanged for a fifth straight quarter.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said that brands need to be aware of the dangers that distrust presents in the wake of major scandals.
“What we see with brands that suffer major scandals is that once distrust takes hold, it is very difficult to curtail,” Levine said. “We saw it with AMP and the big four banks following the Royal Commission, and we are still seeing it with Harvey Norman.
“More than two years after the JobKeeper scandal, they are still ranked in the top 10 most distrusted brands in the country.”
Levine added that the first step in rebuilding trust is to eliminate distrust.
Meanwhile, the previously highly trusted Qantas has dropped, falling 31 places, moving from the ninth most trusted brand in the September quarter to the 40th most trusted brand in the December quarter.
The national carrier has reportedly been dealing with poor consumer perceptions around customer service, flight delays, cancellations and rising prices. Six months ago, Qantas was the sixth most trust brand in Australia.
Optus’ data breach last year is said to have impacted its net distrust score according to Roy Morgan, dropping from the 17th most distrusted brand in the September quarter, to the second most distrusted brand in December - displacing Telstra.
Facebook / Meta remains the most distrusted brand, according to Roy Morgan’s results.
The results also show that Medibank is now the 14th most distrusted brand, after previously being a trusted brand, reportedly due to its
Roy Morgan data scientists analysed nominations from more than 22,000 Australians to identify the nation’s most trusted and most distrusted brands.