Brand trust has declined
As consumer confidence dips, companies may have not reacted strongly or quickly enough to conteractcounteract concerns, notably around personal safety. At the time of our first report, net trust across all sectors globally, was stronger than pre-COVID-19 (+3 percent). Now, net trust has declined to -4 percent. Mainland China stands out as being exceptionally trusting of organizations at this time (+27 percent vs. pre-COVID-19).
However, all other markets see a negative net trust of between -2 percent in the US and -15 percent in France vs pre-COVID-19. The drop in net trust over the past couple of months since W1 has been greatest for Spain and Italy (-15 percent and -13 percent respectively).
Grocery and non-grocery retail, early beneficiaries of consumer trust, have suffered the most. The two sectors new to our survey, Entertainment & Leisure and Travel & Tourism, have also suffered a significant drop in trust vs. pre-COVID-19.
