Poll: Amazon most trusted brand among consumers

New York -- Amazon remains the world's most trusted retailer despite widespread criticism of its tax affairs and labor disputes.



The Internet giant topped a poll of 30,000 consumers in nine countries although the research by OC&C, unveiled on the closing day of the World Retail Congress, revealed that “its crown has very much slipped.”



Consumers were asked to rank nearly 600 retailers on a range of factors such as trust, value for money, service, product, and multichannel capability.



Amazon retained the top spot despite losing trust in both Germany, and the U.K., and an overall 4.3% drop in its score.



Amazon is not the only retailer to face trust challenges in 2013 according to the report. It found Tesco’s reputation had suffered from the horsemeat scandal, and in the U.S. Zappos and Neiman Marcus were big casualties. Zappos was hit by fallout from a security breach resulting in the loss of customer data, and Neiman Marcus admitted using real fur in some artificial fur products.



“Trust has historically proven to be the most important factor in driving overall consumer perception of a retailer and has long been a core strength of Amazon’s across multiple markets,” says OC&C in a release. “Amazon’s recent experience in Germany shows how fragile Trust can be and the impact it can have across consumer perceptions of a whole proposition.”



The breadth and depth of the report, which is in its fourth year, gives a powerful view into the relative strength of retail propositions across the world.



Amazon was still ranked top for its ‘wide choice of products’ and ‘value for money.’



Primark was ranked No. 1 when it came to ‘low prices’ and John Lewis ranking highest for ‘customer service’.



Marks & Spencer Simply Food claimed the top spot for ‘product quality’ while Victoria’s Secret was ranked No. 1 for ‘fashionability.’