Bunnings maintains its position as Australia’s most trusted brand, while skepticism grows around online retail behemoths like Temu and Shein.

According to Roy Morgan’s latest quarterly brand trust report, the home improvement and hardware leader has held onto the top position for the eighth time in a row, a streak that began in late 2023.

The rankings for the top four brands have remained unchanged for the past year, with Bunnings followed by Aldi, Kmart, and Apple.

Notable shifts occurred among the most trusted brands, particularly in the banking sector. Commonwealth Bank ascended to fifth place, surpassing Toyota.

Other banks also experienced upward momentum, with Westpac at 14th, NAB at 19th, ING at 20th, and Bendigo at 15th. Collectively, the banking industry rose significantly, becoming Australia’s eighth-most trusted industry, marking a significant 10-spot jump over the past year.

“This is by far the biggest increase of any industry, with the second-best performance by the closely related Insurance Industry, up three rankings to 13th overall,” Roy Morgan chief executive Michele Levine said.

In Roy Morgan’s “most distrusted” rankings, Woolworths and Coles retained the top two spots for the fourth consecutive quarter.

But online retailers could be swiftly catching up, with Temu rising to the fifth-most distrusted brand for the quarter.

Amazon was 10th and Shein 11th.

“Since Roy Morgan began measuring Temu in mid-2023, the brand has been on a steady downward trajectory that shows no signs of ending anytime soon – and is now Australia’s fifth most distrusted brand overall in the 12 months to September 2025,” Levine said.

“In fact, in the single month of September – Temu was the most distrusted brand of all.”

Other distrusted brands included Tesla (7th), McDonalds (16th), Jetstar (18th), Shell (19th), Qantas (6th), Telstra (8th), News Corp (12th), Rio Tinto (17th), and BP (20th).

Out of the online retail sector, only eBay retains a trustworthy rating, with customers turning on the likes of Amazon, AliExpress, and Kogan, as well as Temu and Shein.

The pollster noted this was despite increasing usage, highlighting unethical attitudes and profit-driven behaviour as driving distrust.

“As more Australians trial the platform, distrust is accelerating rather than stabilising, a sign real-world experience is feeding the decline,” Levine said.

“The biggest drivers of Temu’s distrust are poor quality, a lack of ethics, dishonesty, a lack of data privacy, and overall unreliability. Poor quality and low standards are accelerating fastest, but every negative driver is reinforcing the overall surge in distrust.”