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Retail has a customer trust problem

Written by RetailWire Staff

Photo: RetailWire

According to a new Gallup poll, U.S. consumers do not trust retailers as much as they used to — and they do not have much trust for anyone else, either. The study states that customer trust has been declining for years and identifies several potential factors contributing to the issue, such as:
  • Greater access to information about retailers via the internet as well as social media’s potential to provide a megaphone for criticism about negative interactions with a retailer;
  • Retailers’ inability to keep up with Gen Z and Millennial demands for commitments to social responsibility;
  • Failing to empower employees to deliver the experience that customers are looking for.
The study suggests that retailers can remedy the deficit in trust by focusing on “core values and purpose,” creating the kinds of human interactions that cannot be accomplished strictly with technology and empowering employees to “deliver magic to customers.” The decline in consumer trust in retailers comes alongside a decline in public trust in other U.S. institutions, according to Gallup. While year-over-year trust in small businesses dropped two percent, from 70 percent to 68 percent between 2021 to 2022, other institutions saw larger drops during that time frame, including those with lower rates of trust to begin with. Trust in big business dropped four percent from 18 percent to 14 percent, trust in the medical system dropped six percent from 44 percent to 38 percent, and trust in banks dropped six percent from 33 percent to 27 percent. A PwC study from last year, however, paints a different picture of what builds customer trust than the Gallup poll. While the new Gallup study found that 85 percent of Gen Zers trust a brand more when it takes a strong social stance, the PwC study found that only 27 percent of customers overall believe that businesses that take a stand on social issues are more trustworthy. In a study by Morning Consult, 42 percent of Gen Zers said that they do not tend to trust the average American company and that trust must be earned.

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