Monash University Business School has released its first annual Australian Consumer, Retail, and Services (ACRS) Consumer Retail Trust Index, a national survey of Australian consumers. 

According to the research, consumers see online retail and discount variety stores as the least ‘trustworthy’ of the retail industry. Supermarkets and pharmacies were the most trusted. 

Paolo De Leon, Research Consultant at the ACRS research unit with Monash Business School’s Department of Marketing, said the factors driving the perceived trustworthiness differed between retail segments.  

“Online-only retailers were rated well-below their retail counterparts,” he said, “Unlike with the retail industry overall, when it comes to clothing retailers, communication and products are also key in driving trust. This differs again for supermarkets, where we saw trust in information security emerge as important.”

With current fears around computer hacking and data breaches, customers want to be reassured that the data they provide as part of their local supermarket rewards scheme is secure.

But this didn’t translate to clothing, footwear and personal accessories retailers where key trust factors are communication and products, rather than data security.

The study surveyed more than 630 Australian consumers who were asked to indicate their faith in several retail businesses to do what is right. Ratings of trust were also collected in automotive, food and beverage, media and entertainment, and financial services business for comparative purposes.

The research shows that Australians valued five key retail trust attributes: employees, store presentation, product quality and innovativeness, communications and information security. While retail stores and their employees are key when it comes to trust in the overall retail industry, these weren’t necessarily influencing factors of trust in specific retail sectors.

Dr Eloise Zoppos, Senior Research Consultant at the ACRS research unit, said retailers could use this research to understand the factors driving consumer trust – which can then help to refine their business operations, including marketing campaigns and communications strategies.

“Our research found that trust has a strong impact on loyalty and likelihood to recommend, including the Net Promoter Score – a tool used to gauge the loyalty of a firm’s customer relationships,” she said.

“Trust varies greatly by retail sector. Brands and retailers need to know their trust drivers and which trust levers to pull, as it’s only after that point that an effective trust building strategy can be developed.”

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