Australia's Trusted Brands: Bunnings Leads While Woolworths And Coles Lag

Hardware giant Bunnings has retained its spot as Australia's most trusted brand for the September quarter, while supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles were listed among the most distrusted, according to the latest consumer survey by market research firm Roy Morgan.

The survey, which polled 25,000 Australians and scrutinized 1,000 brands across 27 industries, revealed a clear trend in consumer sentiment.

Bunnings has held the top spot for four consecutive quarters, maintaining its position since it surpassed Woolworths at the close of 2023.

"A year ago, Bunnings was ranked as Australia's second most trusted brand – splitting the two major supermarkets, Woolworths (first) and Coles (third) on the podium," said Michele Levine, CEO of Roy Morgan.

Along with Bunnings, other household names continued to dominate the list of Australia's most trusted brands. Supermarket chain Aldi and discount department store Kmart remained in the top three for the third consecutive quarter. In fourth and fifth positions, Toyota and Apple held steady, while Australia Post maintained its position in sixth.

Further down the rankings, Big W climbed to seventh place, while NRMA moved up one spot to eighth. Both brands benefited from a drop in rankings for Myer, which slipped two places to ninth. Samsung rounded out in 10th place.

Woolworths and Coles: Most distrusted brands

The performance of Aldi and IGA, both still ranking in the top 15, highlights that not all supermarkets have lost consumers in the current cost of living crisis.

Woolworths and Coles, the dominant players in Australia's supermarket sector, have seen their trust scores take a drastic hit. Plummeting over 200 places in the rankings, the two supermarket chains have been ranked among the most distrusted brands in the country.

Levine explained, "Since then, the two supermarkets have fallen away significantly and are now ranked within the three most distrusted brands – just behind Optus."

Telecommunications company Optus remains Australia's most distrusted brand for the sixth consecutive quarter, a position it has held since mid-2023.

The findings also revealed that major brands such as Qantas, Meta, Telstra, News Corp, Temu, Twitter/X, and TikTok ranked at the bottom, making them some of the most distrusted companies in Australia.

Outside the top 10, notable improvements included JB Hi-Fi, which moved up to 11th, Commonwealth Bank, climbing seven spots to 13th, and RACQ, which entered the top 20 at 18th. Among the top 25, Chemist Warehouse saw significant gains, while David Jones, ABC, Nike, and Bendigo Bank dropped in the rankings.

Bunnings rank comes amid the Australian Privacy Commissioner ruling two weeks ago that the company had breached the Privacy Act by collecting personal information via facial recognition technology, News.com reported.