Brand Reputation Series - Issue 1: How Well Have Brands Responded To The Coronavirus Pandemic?

COVID-19

14 Oct

During the past five months, we have tracked the UK’s perception of brands across various sectors to uncover their performance on trust and likeability, and their overall response to the Coronavirus pandemic. Our aim is to understand which brands are coming top in each sector across these factors and predict their future performance based on consumer behaviour.

Over a series of blog posts, we will delve deeper into various sectors, examining what consumer perceptions are damaging brands’ reputation most. But first, here a sector overview to set the scene.

We asked UK consumers how much they trust the retail, banking, telecommunications and grocery sectors. We’ve discovered that since the start of April, trust in all of these sectors has decreased.

Source: Rare: Consulting. UK adults 18+. Data collected between 7th April and 31st August 2020 (N=8,167). Those aware of the brand: average in Retail (N=6,072), Grocery (N=5,029), Telco (N=5,764), Banking (N=5,204).

When we began tracking trust, the majority of UK consumers had faith in the grocery sector (58%), with sales rising by £500m as Brits adjusted their shopping habits to their lockdown lifestyle (Source: Sharecast). But this trust has since eroded by 16%. After wearing masks became mandatory, shoppers made fewer trips to the grocery store (Source: Independent). Therefore, the dip in trust could be due to safety concerns about the spread of the virus in enclosed spaces or people disregarding face covering regulations in-store but not being challenged by the grocers.

We have observed a similar trend in the banking sector, where trust has decreased 9% since the pandemic began. One explanation for this is the pulling of mortgage deals, tightening restrictions on home loans for high-risk borrowers (Source: Bloomberg), which has made it more difficult for people to finance their homes. Finally, we have observed an overall decrease in trust in retail (11%) and telecommunications (9%).

From the beginning of April, when we started to track brand reputation, there has been an overall, steady decline in the number of people who believe each of the sectors has responded well to Coronavirus.

The telecommunications sector has suffered a drop of 8% for this factor. This is despite people using platforms, such as Zoom, in droves during the pandemic for quizzes, family reunions and socialising from their sofas (Source: The Drum).

We’ve also seen a decrease in the number of people who think the retail sector has responded well to the pandemic. However, the trend in retail differs slightly from telecommunications, as we observed a steady decline from the beginning of April to 6th June. In April, McKinsey predicted that 80% of retail stores would be in financial distress if they remained shut for a further two months (Source: Retail Gazette). However, from 15th June, when the government lifted the restrictions allowing non-essential retailers to re-open, we saw an increase in the number of people who thought this sector responded well to the pandemic: from 30% to 31% by the end of August. We now expect a steady increase in the number of shoppers who think the sector has responded well.

Keep an eye out for our sector specific blogs over the next two weeks, including deeper dives on the Retail, Banking, Telecoms and Grocery sectors!

For more information on the data gathered, email hello@rare.consulting.