Aldi has retained the top spot on Roy Morgan’s net trust score survey, but major changes have occurred on the bottom half of the list over the last six months.

While Bunnings, Qantas and the ABC remained in 2nd, 3rd and 4th position on the list of 10, Samsung, Myer, RACQ and IGA fell off the list altogether.

“Trust is vital to the success of any business, but the key message of the Roy Morgan Net Trust Score survey is that growing distrust can be a disaster, leading to customer churn, loss of market share and in some cases a long slide into oblivion,” Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine warned.

“Trust is not just a ‘marketing’ or ‘comms’ issue – it goes to the heart of corporate culture and governance for every company.”

Kmart, ING, Toyota and Target all joined the top 10, while the NRMA and Bendigo Bank slid in the ranks.

According to Roy Morgan, the biggest concern for these businesses is distrust, with the results of the banking enquiry leaving the big four banks among the most distrusted companies in the country.

Coles was also among the most distrusted business, bucking the trend of retail, consumer products and supermarkets being among the most trusted organisations.

“We have seen time and time again companies making bad business decisions that don’t take into account the way people will feel about an action or policy,” Levine said.

“Whether it’s Facebook, the big four banks or our major utilities, directors and their management teams need to think about the social drivers or trust and distrust – ethics, believably, integrity and transparency.”

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