Food and retail companies ‘Reputation Index’ rankings released

The reputation ranking of Australia’s biggest food companies were yesterday revealed in AMR’s 2016 Corporate Reputation Index.

AMR is an Australian based research consultancy. Its annual Corporate Reputation index is based on surveys conducted with Australians aged 18 – 64 years.

Here are the highlights:

Woolworths

Woolworths this year experienced the biggest fall in overall reputation. The supermarket group fell to 40^th position from 17^th in 2015.

AMR Managing Director, Oliver Freedman, said the change could be attributed to public awareness of financial issues, including the future of the Masters brand, teamed with ongoing public discussion about whether it was losing the battle against Coles and Aldi.

“Woolworths has really struggled in the individual measurements of Leadership and Financial Performance in particular this year,” Freedman said.

“In the past its overall financial performance helped maintain a strong reputation.  But once this started to decline, there was not enough reputational capital to avoid a very large loss of trust among the Australian public,” he stated.

7-Eleven

Convenience chain 7-Eleven dropped to 56^th place out of the 60 companies in the index. This was a huge drop on its ranking of 36^th in 2015.  The convenience chain suffered a blow to its reputation this past 12 months following accusations of widespread employee underpayment by franchisee owners.

Wesfarmers – Coles

Wesfarmers, the owner of Coles supermarkets, dropped to 18^th in 2016 from 13^th in 2015.

Aldi

Aldi was the only supermarket to improve its position, moving from 8^th in 2015 to 7^th in 2016.

Coca-Cola Amatil

Coca-Cola Amatil dropped to 46^th ranking, a fall from 32^nd in 2015.

Murray Goulburn – Devondale

Murray Goulburn achieved a 8^th ranking (it was not listed in 2015). It appears the research likely preceded the latest bad news coming from the company.

Nestle

Nestle received a 12^th place ranking, a fall from fourth position in 2015.

The number one position was awarded outside the food industry with the top ranking given to electronics retailer JB-Hi-Fi (which moved to number one in 2016 from its previous ranking of third spot in 2016). Last year’s winner Toyota was pushed off its top perch from number one last year to number two this year.