DISTRUST – AUSTRALIA

Bunnings is Australia’s most trusted brand, banking industry moves into Net Trust and Temu is most distrusted online retailer

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Dec-25

Bunnings is the most trusted brand in the 12 months to September 2025, making it the eighth consecutive quarterly victory for the hardware retailer stretching back to late 2023. This is according to the latest Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia) Risk Monitor, with the top four places being unchanged for the fourth consecutive quarter, with discount supermarket Aldi in second, discount department store Kmart in third, and technology and consumer products firm Apple in fourth position. The banks improved their trust rankings, now with five of the top 20 most trusted brands, while supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles were Australia’s two most distrusted brands for a fourth straight quarter, and Temu is rated as Australia’s most distrusted online retailer.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, APPLE PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, TEMU

Trust in banking and finance industries – including all big four banks – increases significantly over the last 12 months

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Nov-25

Roy Morgan measures trust and distrust across 27 industries and over 200 key Australian brands on an ongoing basis. A special deep dive into trust and distrust in the banking and finance industry shows a remarkable recovery in levels of trust and a reduction in distrust for the industry over the last 12 months. The Banking industry itself is now the 14th most trusted industry in Australia, up 10 spots from a year ago, lifted higher by rising trust and decreasing distrust in the big four banks. In addition, the Insurance industry is up five spots and is now the 12th most trusted industry. The Payments, Cards and Loans industry is up three places to 7th and the Superannuation and Wealth Management industry is up three positions to 6th overall. These four industries have improved more than any other sectors over the last 12 months.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Australia’s Most Trusted and Distrusted Brands + The Retail Landscape – Webinar Invitation

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 12-Nov-25

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine at 11:00am on 28 November to discover Australia’s most Trusted and Distrusted brands; how traditional retail brands are being impacted by Temu, Shein, and AliExpress; how the dramatic shift to low prices is affecting discount department stores like Kmart and Big W; whether Amazon has finally become the digital category killer, impacting Myer, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman; whether Coles and Woolworths are finally showing real signs of reputational recovery; and whether the retail sector seeing a rise in distrust amid all the upheaval. Register now and we will send you a link immediately prior to the start of the webinar.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Profits today, penalties tomorrow: The real cost of distrust

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Michele Levine
Mumbrella – Page: Online : 8-Oct-25

Former marketing professor, brand consultant and columnist Mark Ritson recently commented on Roy Morgan’s finding that Qantas has become one of Australia’s five most distrusted brands. Ritson contended that "brand trust needs to be taken with a massive dose of salt". However, distrust affects more than just a company’s reputation; Medibank, AMP, Facebook and Qantas itself are amongst the companies whose market capitalisation fell sharply in the wake of scandals that damaged their brand in recent years. Distrust spreads faster than trust accrues, and it changes behaviour long after headlines about a scandal fade; a business can report solid earnings yet be just one incident away from value destruction.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, QANTAS AIRWAYS LIMITED – ASX QAN, MEDIBANK PRIVATE LIMITED – ASX MPL, AMP LIMITED – ASX AMP, FACEBOOK

Bunnings is Australia’s most trusted brand – while the big four banks (CBA, NAB, ANZ and Westpac) surge up the rankings

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Sep-25

Bunnings is the most trusted brand in the 12 months to June 2025 – a seventh consecutive quarterly victory for the hardware retailer stretching back to late 2023. Bunnings was also recognised last week as Australia’s ‘Best of the Best’ Most Trusted Brand for 2025. For the third straight quarter the top five places remain unchanged with budget supermarket Aldi in second place, discount department store Kmart in third, technology and consumer products giant Apple in fourth and leading car manufacturer Toyota in fifth place. There were two notable trends in the latest trust rankings with all four major banks improving their rankings, and two prominent discount department stores rising to more closely challenge market leader Kmart. Meanwhile, Woolworths and Coles are Australia’s two most distrusted brands for a third straight quarter.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, APPLE PTY LTD, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL

Australia’s Most Trusted and Distrusted Brands + Most Trusted Brand Awards 2025

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 16-Sep-25

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine in this webinar to discover Australia’s most trusted and distrusted brands in sectors such as banking, supermarkets, airlines, health insurance and energy. Michele also reveals the winners of Roy Morgan’s annual Most Trusted Brand Awards for 2025. View the webinar now:

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

The Role of Trust and Distrust in the 2025 Federal Election Webinar

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 30-Apr-25

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine to learn why the 2025 Federal Election will be decided by distrust rather than trust. In this compelling webinar, Michele reveals why this will be ‘The Distrust Election’: who Australians distrust more – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Opposition Leader Peter Dutton; how cost-of-living pressures and economic uncertainty are intensifying the political battle; the surprising politicians Australians actually trust (and why): how distrust changes voter behaviour and reshapes election outcomes; and what unexpected decision or external shock could swing the election result. Discover the reshaping of Australia’s political landscape – and what it means for Election Day. Watch the webinar on YouTube.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine: Woolworths and Coles have gone from the Most Trusted to Most Distrusted in just over a year

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Jan-25

In a dramatic shift in consumer sentiment, Woolworths and Coles have recorded the highest distrust since Roy Morgan began tracking brand trust in late 2017. Woolworths now replaces Optus as the most distrusted brand in Australia, while Coles has followed closely, recording the second-highest level of distrust on record. Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine commented that "Distrust has a far more potent impact on consumer behaviour than trust. While trust creates loyalty, distrust can drive customers into the welcoming arms of more trusted brands. The reputational fall of Woolworths and Coles is a powerful reminder of the fragility of trust in today’s environment. The pandemic placed the major supermarkets at the centre of Australian lives. But the goodwill they built during that period has been reversed by perceptions of too profit-motivated and unaffordable pricing".

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD

Bunnings is Australia’s most trusted brand again ahead of Aldi, Kmart and Toyota, while Big W and NRMA improve

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 4-Dec-24

Bunnings is the most trusted brand in the 12 months to September 2024. The hardware chain has held top spot as Australia’s most trusted brand for four consecutive quarters, since taking top spot at the end of last year from previous leader Woolworths. Filling out the top three most trusted brands for a third consecutive quarter are supermarket Aldi followed by discount department store Kmart. Toyota in fourth, Apple in fifth and Australia Post in sixth were all unchanged from last quarter. Meanwhile, Optus remains the most distrusted brand for a sixth straight quarter. The telco is followed by major supermarkets Woolworths and Coles; they held the top two spots as Australia’s most trusted brands in mid-2023, but they have since fallen completely out of favour, having lost well over 200 places in the trust rankings compared to a year ago.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, BUNNINGS GROUP LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION AUSTRALIA LIMITED, APPLE PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA POST, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL

Exploitation of children and young people strong contributor to toxic levels of distrust in social media

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 3-Oct-24

As the Federal government prepares to introduce legislation that would ban social media for young Australians, analysis of six years of data from the Roy Morgan Risk Monitor shows that Australians have long distrusted social media companies, and their perceived exploitation of children is a major reason. Key themes underlying Australia’s mistrust of social media include the lack of regulation, the negative effect on self-esteem, targeting of content towards children, and the addictive nature of the platforms. The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor contains hundreds of thousands of verbatim comments from more than 130,000 Australians about why they trust or distrust brands they nominate top-of-mind. A snap poll conducted by Roy Morgan in July 2022 showed that less than three in 10 (29%) Australians agreed that ‘social media solves more problems than it creates’. These results were in contrast to public opinion on the internet in general, which showed that almost two thirds (64%) of Australians agreed that ‘the internet solves more problems than it creates’.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED