Supermarkets Coles and Woolworths now among Australia’s most distrusted brands: Roy Morgan

Australia’s biggest grocery chains — Coles and Woolworths — have fallen out of favour with consumers to now be ranked among the nation’s most distrusted brands amid stubborn cost-of-living pressures and accusations of price-gouging.

The two supermarket majors in recent months have faced increased regulatory scrutiny and been forced to front multiple government inquiries into claims of profiteering.

Woolworths was the biggest loser in Roy Morgan’s latest risk monitor survey, rising a massive 194 places to be the fifth-most distrusted brand in the June quarter. Coles rose a further five places from ninth to fourth-most distrusted.

The Federal Government has directed the competition watchdog to conduct a prices inquiry, with an interim report set to be made public in the coming weeks.

State parliaments in Queensland and South Australia have also held inquiries into supermarket pricing.

Coles and Woolworths could also be forced to sell stores or split off parts of their businesses under divestiture powers proposed by the Opposition.

The latest Roy Morgan report revealed supermarket rival Aldi and discount department store Kmart retained their respective spots as second and third-most trusted brand.

Hardware goliath Bunnings also kept its crown as Australia’s most trusted brand.

“Our customers are at the centre of everything we do, and we don’t take their trust for granted,” Bunnings managing director Mike Schneider said.

Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said the rapid slide down the rankings for Coles and Woolworths showed how quickly distrust can gain momentum and devalue a brand’s reputation.

“The high trust ratings for Aldi, and independent grocer IGA (13th), show that the distrust for the two majors is not industry-wide,” she said.

“It is their brands specifically which have become associated with ‘price gouging, high profits and corporate greed’ over the last year whereas their closest competitors haven’t.”

A Woolworths spokeswoman said many Australian families were looking for relief at the checkout.

“We continue to be focused on ensuring our customers get value every time they shop with us,” she said.

Filling out the top five most trusted brands were Toyota (fourth), now just ahead of tech giant Apple.

The Roy Morgan report surveys about 2000 Australians every month to measure levels of trust and distrust among 1000 brands across 26 industries.

An Aldi spokeswoman said the recognition as the second-most trusted brand proved it continued to satisfy Australian customers and garner their trust in delivering low-priced groceries.

Embattled telco giant Optus is once again Australia’s most distrusted brand, an ignominy now held by the Singaporean-owned company for a fourth-straight quarter.

National carrier Qantas has moved up further in the distrust rankings to second place, overtaking social media giant Facebook/Meta in third.

Chinese e-commerce giant Temu rose eight spots to be the 10th most distrusted brand amid its growing popularity since launching in the country last March.

The retailer has become well-known for offering shockingly low prices across a variety of products.