An era of distrust? Building and maintaining consumer trust in retail - insights from ACRS' Trust Index.

1. AN ERA OF DISTRUST?
Building and maintaining
consumertrust in retail
Dr Eloise Zoppos
Senior Research Consultant
ACRS Research Unit

2. TRUST IS THE KEY TO SUCCESSFUL
CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIPS
CONNECTION
brand attachment
ENGAGEMENT
brand attention
BOND
brand love
LONG-TERM
RELATIONSHIP
brand loyalty
CONSUMER
TRUST

3. “ Customers trust a brand that they
know and that they’ve had a good
experience with, and that memory
is relatively short.”
– Nati Harpaz,
CEO, Catch

4. AN ERA OF DISTRUST?
Source: 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer

5. ADVERTISING
& CONTENT
OVERLOAD
CONSUMERS AS
INFLUENCERS
DATA
BREACHES
“FAKE NEWS”

6. Why should
brands and retailers
care about
consumer trust?

7. Group 1
TRUSTERS
(those who scored 7-10)
Group 2
NON-TRUSTERS
(those who scored 0-6)
PURCHASE
INTENT
LOYALTY LIKELIHOOD TO
RECOMMEND
Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018

8. Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018
Supermarket
6%
Clothing/ footwear/
personal accessories
17%
Online-only
retailer
28%
The average reported purchase intent significantly
increased amongst trusters
HIGHER TRUST =
INCREASED PURCHASE INTENT

9. HIGHER TRUST =
INCREASED LOYALTY PREFERENCE
Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018
Supermarket
16%
Clothing/ footwear/
personal accessories
25%
Online-only
retailer
38%
The average reported loyalty preference significantly
increased amongst trusters

10. HIGHER TRUST =
INCREASED LIKELIHOOD TO RECOMMEND
Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018
The average reported likelihood to recommend significantly
increased amongst trusters
Supermarket
32%
Clothing/ footwear/
personal accessories
33%
Online-only
retailer
39%

11. A DECLINE IN TRUST CAN ALSO BE DAMAGING
Source: Wall Street Journal; Fortune; Business Insider
After defective
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
smart phones began
exploding around the
world, sales of the phone
dropped by 15%
After the Cambridge
Analytica data breach,
the value of Facebook
dropped by $100 billion
and 1.8 million
Australians deleted
their account
After the Volkswagen
emissions scandal, new
VW car sales dropped
by 9% in Australia and
VW sales were banned
in South Korea

12. STRATEGIES FOR BRANDS TO
(RE)BUILD & MAINTAIN TRUST
ACCOUNTABILITY
●
LEGITIMACY
●
STORE LAYOUT & DESIGN
●
INTEGRITY & SHARED VALUES

13. Brands and employees need to
take responsibility for the actions
of the brand
ACCOUNTABILITY
of people agree that
they’re more likely
to trust a company
that announces
product recalls
78%
of people agree that they trust
companies who stand behind
their products
92%
Source: Ipsos 2018

14. 5.7
6.7
6.7
6.8
6.9
6.5
Online only retailers
Clothing, footwear
and accessory stores
Homeware stores
Department stores
Supermarkets
Industry Average
Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018; KPMG 2017
RETAIL CATEGORY TRUST
Brands need to show consumers
that they are reliable, especially
online retailers
LEGITIMACY
of consumers
report that the
companies they
trust the most are
ones that are
easy for them to
contact directly
51%

15. Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018
Brands need to be mindful of
atmospherics & consistency
STORE DESIGN
KEY STORE
DRIVERS
OF TRUST IN
RETAIL
Policies that
favour
customers’
bestinterests
Solve customer problems
(e.g. returns or refunds)
Organised to
easily find
products &
services
32%

16. Source: ACRS Consumer Retail Trust Model 2018
RETAIL
STORE
DRIVERS
RETAIL
EMPLOYEE
DRIVERS
Policies that
favour customers’
best interests
Solve customer problems
(e.g. returns or refunds)
Organised to
easily find
products &
services
Solve customer
problems
Give honest
advice, even if they
don’t make a sale
Work quickly
& efficiently
Brands need to put their consumers
interests first and respect their values
INTEGRITY & SHARED VALUES
34%
36%

17. STRATEGIES FOR BRANDS TO
(RE)BUILD & MAINTAIN TRUST
ACCOUNTABILITY
Take responsibility for the
actions of the brand, including
issues and problems
LEGITIMACY
Show consumers that the
brand is reliable, especially in
the case of online retailers
STORE LAYOUT
& DESIGN
Be mindful of store
atmospherics and
consistencies
INTEGRITY &
SHARED VALUES
Put the consumers interests
first and respect their values

18. ACRS, Monash University
Building S, Level6
26 Sir John Monash Drive
Caulfield East VIC 3145
+61 3 9903 2734
eloise.zoppos@monash.edu
monash.edu/acrs