Shoppers lose faith in supermarkets for being too profit-driven
By John Collett
Telcos, social media companies and banks have been labelled the least trusted by customers, while the high regard consumers once had for big supermarkets has been tarnished by concerns over soaring grocery prices.
As part of a monthly rating for researcher Roy Morgan, consumers score industry sectors and brands on trust, marking them low when they perceive them as being too motivated by profit, charging high prices and being insufficiently focused on customers.
Big supermarkets have lost much of the trust they had with the public, but Aldi remains one of the most trusted brands.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
Rising interest rates and cost-of-living pressures are contributing factors to consumers’ increasing distrust, says Roy Morgan Research chief executive Michele Levine.
She says the problems at major companies such as Qantas, Harvey Norman, AMP and Rio Tinto have also contributed to a general loss of consumer trust.
Since 2018, Roy Morgan has continuously quizzed more than 2000 people each month on the brands they trust and distrust. Net trust scores are calculated by subtracting distrust from trust.
“Before COVID, Australians felt more trusting, however, soaring distrust of executives behaving badly ... has led to a significant shift in consumer attitudes,” Levine says.
Between the 12-month average to December last year and the 12-month average to March this year, the rising distrust of Coles and Woolworths has caused trust in the supermarket sector, as a whole, to drop.
Though supermarkets’ overall trust score is still positive, the sector has suffered the biggest drop in the three months.
The utility, bank and insurance sectors also fell in the rankings of net trust scores over the same period. The telco sector is the most distrusted of all, closely followed by social media and banking.
While consumers mark down supermarkets on trust for being too motivated by profit, they distrust banks even more for being too interested in profit.
“With ongoing mortgage rate increases and cost-of-living pressures, Australians are increasingly outraged that banks are making such huge profits at their expense,” Levine says.
Big supermarkets are also disliked for price hikes and price gouging, while banks and telcos are regarded by consumers as not being focused enough on them. When it comes to the brands that shoppers trust, Bunnings is the most trusted, followed by Aldi, Kmart, Apple and Toyota.
Contrary to the broader trend for the banking sector, the Commonwealth Bank improved its ranking during the three months to be the 16th most-trusted brand.
Distrust of a brand can persist. Following the Optus data breach in 2022, the telco has been unable to shake off being Australia’s most distrusted brand, Levine says.
Medibank, on the other hand, is slowly showing signs of brand recovery after its data breach in 2022.
Reputation loss can have an impact on the shareholders of listed companies as well as customers. Following the Medibank data breach, soaring distrust saw close to $2 billion wiped off the health insurer’s market value in a single day.
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