Roy Morgan Research
May 12, 2022

Apple, Bendigo Bank, Myer and JB Hi-Fi among the big improvers in Roy Morgan’s latest ‘Net Trust’ rankings

Topic: Press Release
Finding No: 8979
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The March quarter 2022 provided a new experience for many Australians – official ABS CPI figures showed inflation at an annual rate of 5.1% - the highest for over 20 years.

The high level of inflation reported by the ABS prompted the RBA to raise interest rates by 0.25% points to 0.35% a week later – the first increase to official interest rates for over a decade since November 2010.

The new environment of rising inflation and increasing interest rates is a new one for many younger Australians and provides a new challenge for businesses and brands to connect with their customers as we adapt to the so called ‘COVID-normal’ environment.

As it is we are still experiencing an era of record retail sales growth – the latest data for March 2022 shows retail sales growth of 9.4% compared to March 2021 (up from 9.1% in February 2022) – this is more than four times faster than pre-pandemic annual retail sales growth of 1.9% (January and February 2020).

The unprecedented retail sales ‘boom’ has coincided with big gains in trust for Australia’s leading retailers who comprised seven of the top ten most trusted brands in the 12 months to March 2022. The top five most trusted brands in March 2022 were Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings Warehouse, ALDI and Kmart in fifth place and all unchanged from the prior quarter.Big improvers in the Top 20 were led by Myer, which continued to improve and was up two places to seventh, Apple which increased six places and entered the top 10 in ninth, Bendigo Bank which was up two places to 14th, JB Hi-Fi which was up one place to 18th and David Jones which re-entered the Top 20.

Roy Morgan data scientists analysed nominations from more than 20,000 Australians to identify the nation’s 20 most trusted brands, and 20 most distrusted brands.

Click here to register for the special webinar on Australia’s most trusted and distrusted brands in March 2022 with a special focus on telcos.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine notes the new environment of rising inflation and interest rates presents a new challenge for brands and businesses looking to maintain and increase their trust – and minimise their distrust – with customers dealing with a fast-rising cost of living:

Block Quote

“The last two years have proven to be good ones for Australia’s supermarkets and big retailers. Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, Bunnings Warehouse and Kmart have consistently ranked in the top five most trusted brands in Australia and this trend hasn’t changed in the early months of 2022.

“Importantly, there were several brands that increased their net trust ratings significantly in the first quarter of March 2022. Technology brand Apple had the biggest improvement – rising six places to ninth overall.

“Respondents who trust Apple noted several aspects of Apple’s services that stand out including that ‘their privacy and security is much higher of a priority than competitors’, ‘Apple’s technology is useful and designed well – I use them extensively at home’, ‘I have used Apple’s products my entire working career.’ and ‘They have always tried to develop user-centred products’.

“Other brands to improve included department store Myer, up two places to seventh, the Bendigo Bank, up two places to 14th, electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi, up one spot to 18th and upmarket department store David Jones which re-entered the Top 20.”

The Roy Morgan analysis also reveals the top 20 list of Australia’s most distrusted brands with AGL and Optus entering the top 20 list while brands including Harvey Norman, Westpac, Nestle, Commonwealth Bank and Shell all experienced rising distrust rankings during the year ending March 2022.

The top 10 most trusted brands in Australia – March 2022 (Change from December 2021)

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Risk Monitor, April 2021 – March 2022. Key commercial brands with 20+ mentions. Base: Australians 14+; n=21,585.

Roy Morgan Risk Monitor data is made available in a variety of formats, from snapshot overviews to detailed tracking of individual brands and their competitors.

The latest Risk Report (2021) ranking over 200 brands on Net Trust Scores or Net Distrust Scores is available here

Click here to register for the special webinar on Australia’s most trusted and distrusted brands in March 2022 with a special focus on telcos.

The Roy Morgan Risk Monitor surveys approximately 1,800 Australians every month to measure levels of trust and distrust in more than 900 brands across 26 industry sectors. Respondents are asked which brands and companies they trust, and why, and which brand and companies they distrust, and why. The survey is specially designed to be open-ended and context-free, i.e., unprompted.

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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

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