Aldi has knocked Qantas from its spot as Australia’s most trusted brand, with the German supermarket chain ranked number one in the latest Roy Morgan Net Trust Score survey.
The company rose from third position, coming in just ahead of insurer NRMA, with Bendigo Bank and Bunnings also performing well. Former champion Qantas fell to fourth position.
Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said companies are starting to recognise the importance of trust, which is based on reliability, a customer focus, knowledgeable staff, ease of contact and previous good experiences with a company.
Distrust, on the other hand, revolves around perceptions of self-centredness, greed, and dishonest and deceitful business practices.
Despite Aldi’s winning performance, the supermarket category as a whole has a minus Net Trust Score (NTS), with IGA the only other supermarket to crack the top 10.
Levine said Aldi was successful because it had built its reputation not just on price but also reliability.
“Nowhere is a high level of trust more important than when it comes to the provision of the food we eat,” she said.
“The success of Aldi’s entrance to the Australian market has been built not only on discount prices but also a reputation for reliability and meeting the needs of consumers.”
In order to reveal the accurate NTS of a brand, Levine said it is important to measure both trust and distrust among consumers. Although Aldi’s main rivals Woolworths and Coles rated highly when considering trust, they had much higher levels of distrust.
“Aldi’s ability to excel at its core competencies has built a level of trust in the Australian market, without at the same time attracting the degree of distrust seen by its rivals,” said Levine.
“Although Aldi’s larger rivals both have high levels of trust, it is the number of Australians who express distrust in the two market leaders that they should be worried about.
“To rise to meet the challenge presented by Aldi and other newer entrance into the grocery category, such as Amazon Fresh, Costco and Kaufland, traditional market leaders Coles and Woolworths need to develop strategies to reduce their growing levels of distrust.”
The top brands in Australia ranked by positive Net Trust Score:
- Aldi
- NRMA
- Bendigo Bank
- Qantas
- Bunnings
- Kmart
- ABC Network
- IGA
- Australia Post
- ING
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