Yahoo Finance Aussies love Coles, Woolies but worry about Amazon, Facebook
Australians trust supermarkets more and international tech giants less as the COVID-19 pandemic highlights shifts in consumer values.
Coles and Woolworths are Australians’ two most trusted brands during the pandemic, the first time the two supermarkets have topped the list.
The two companies garnered support as they acted to stem panic buying in stores, and after agreeing to pass on a minimum wage increase six months earlier than was federally mandated.
They were followed by Bunnings and Aldi, which had previously topped the list. Qantas also made the cut, despite the fact that few Australians could travel anywhere last year.
Apple also entered the most-trusted list for the first time last year, bucking the trend of technology companies being looked upon with suspicion.
However, for the first time in Roy Morgan’s records, no banks or financial institutions found themselves on that list.
Amazon joins least trusted brands
Facebook, Telstra, Amazon and NewsCorp were the four least trusted brands during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Global e-commerce giant Amazon made its debut on the list after facing allegations of worker underpayment and concerns that it was establishing a growing monopoly in e-commerce.
Facebook has fallen in trust amid concerns it fails to adequately address fake news and protect users’ privacy.
“Distrust remains the number one risk factor for the nation’s companies because it is the toxic element in brand equity: trust is a brand asset while distrust is a brand liability,” Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine said.
“It’s clear, then, that distrust should be on the risk register of every publicly listed company in Australia.”
Resources companies Rio Tinto and BP also fell into the bottom 10, following a year of scandals.
Rio Tinto has been in hot water after destroying the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge Indigenous heritage site.
