Leading retailers and supermarkets including Woolworths, Coles, Bunnings, ALDI and Kmart are on the 2021 list of Australia’s most trusted brands, according to a Roy Morgan Risk Monitor survey.
Other brands to improve their ratings were Myer, up one place to ninth and Apple up six places on 15th spot.
The exceptional retail sales growth shows that Australians have been shopping at an unprecedented rate during the last two years which has led to big gains in trust for our leading retailers.
“Supermarkets and big retailers have been the winners over the last two years as Australians, boosted with pandemic stimulus and prevented from holidaying overseas have spent their money at home, increasing retail sales to record levels,” Roy Morgan CEO, Michelle Levine said.
“Australia’s big retailers have enjoyed a bumper pandemic and the increases in retail sales have also provided a rocket to the level of trust Australians hold in these companies,” she said.
“As Australia leaves the lockdown/closed borders stage of the pandemic behind it will be interesting to see whether retailers can hold their spots at the top of the rankings when Australians have other options to spend their hard-earned cash on.”
The growing threat of inflation in the economy also presented a challenge to retailers about whether to pass on costs to consumers, or let the inflation in the supply chain eat into their profitability, Levine said.
The Australian economy grew 4.2% in the year to December 2021, and 3.4% in the December 2021 December quarter, the fastest quarterly growth for the economy in 45 years.
Retail sales in February 2022 have also increased to an annual rate of 9.1%, compared to February 2021. This compares to pre-pandemic annual retail sales growth of 1.9% (January and February 2020).