Woolworths dethroned: Australia's most and least trusted brands revealed

Bunnings has reclaimed the top spot on a pollster's most trusted brand list. See who else climbed the ranks, and the brands that tumbled.

Woolworths had held the top spot on Roy Morgan's trusted brand list since May 2020. Source: AAP / Luis Ascui

Key Points

• Bunnings has regained the title of Australia's most trusted brand, overtaking Woolworths.
• Optus remains the most distrusted brand on the list, collated by market research company Roy Morgan.
• The research found Australians' overall distrust in companies grew in the past year.

Bunnings has toppled supermarket giant Woolworths to claim the title of Australia's most trusted brand, according to new research.

Woolworths had held the top spot on Roy Morgan's trusted brand list since May 2020 when it overtook Bunnings, but dropped to second place in December 2023 amid accusations that both major supermarkets were engaging in price-gouging practices.

The research found Australians' overall distrust in companies grew in the past year for several reasons, including "corporate greed, poor customer service, unaffordable prices, dishonesty, unethical practices, and poor privacy practices".

But Bunnings managed to buck that trend.

"Bunnings is a brand with a vast reservoir of goodwill and reputational strength fed by dramatically more trust than distrust … its trust has been climbing steadily over the past year while its minimal distrust remains fairly stable," Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said.

Australia's most trusted brands

Australia's other supermarket giant Coles also experienced a dip in trust, slipping two places on the most trusted list to fifth.

Aldi and Kmart each rose one place to third and fourth, while Apple remained steady at number six.

Toyota, Myer, Big W, and Australia Post rounded out the top 10.

Bendigo Bank was the only brand in the top 20 to move up two spots, widening its gap against 18th and 19th place-getters ING and Commonwealth Bank.

When it came to how trusted Australia's public broadcasters are, the ABC dropped two rankings to 17th, while SBS fell 23 places to 93rd.

Australia's 10 most trusted brands in December 2023. Source: Supplied / Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia)

Australia's least trusted brands

After being hit by a major data breach in 2022 and a national whole-of-network outage last November, Optus remains the most distrusted brand in Australia.

Social media giant Facebook/Meta retained second spot on the list, while Australia's national carrier Qantas moved up one to become the country's third least trusted brand.

Telstra, News Corp, Medibank, and Amazon remained steady as the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh-most distrusted brands.

Australia's 10 most distrusted brands in December 2023. Source: Supplied / Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia)

Trust in the big four banks had "deteriorated" as a result of successive interest rate rises and cost of living concerns, the research showed.

"ANZ is the biggest loser, jumping 18 distrust rankings to land at number 15 on the top twenty list of most distrusted brands in Australia," Levine said.

"NAB jumped 19 places, but as the nation's 71st most distrusted brand is in much better shape than ANZ."