Australian department store Myer has taken Big W’s seventh position in Roy Morgan’s most trusted brands in the 12 months to September 2023.
Big W has dropped by two spots, but still remains in the top ten most trusted brands at position nine, ahead of Australia Post in the tenth position, and behind Toyota which moved ahead by two spots.
The only other fashion retailer in the top ten list is Kmart, which has stuck to its fifth position ahead of Apple and just behind Aldi.
Meanwhile, Australian hardware store Bunnings has broken the ‘supermarket duopoly’, overtaking Coles as the second most trusted brand, with Woolworths at number one.
Bunnings was the most trusted brand in Australia pre-pandemic and was in the top spot until May 2020 when overtaken by Woolworths – which has held first place ever since.
Over the last year overall distrust in organisations and brands has grown disproportionately, according to Roy Morgan, with the level of distrust taking Australia further into Net Distrust territory.
“As cost-of-living pressures deepen, this trend only gets worse as much of corporate Australia, from banks and airlines to supermarkets and utilities, are viewed by some as greedy and profiteering,” Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said. “Australians feel their wallets are shrinking while companies and executives are getting richer.”
Speaking on Bunnings’ soaring return in consumer trust, Levine said the hardware store practices what it says, provides a range of competitive-priced products, with complaints and returns handled fairly and promptly.
“Bunnings has harnessed many of the foundational pillars of a trusted brand including great customer service, communicating what it stands for and delivering, being an active part of the community, solving customer’s problems and expertise and product knowledge,” Levine said.
“Many other prominent retailers are dealing with perceptions that they are ‘price-gouging’ and taking advantage of the current environment to raise their prices above the rate of inflation – but these issues are having only a minimal impact on Australia’s favourite hardware chain.”
The top ten most distrusted brands are mostly part of the telecommunications space, including Optus, Facebook (Meta) and Telstra in the top three respectively.