Retail Gets Real: The impact of trust in consumer relationships

Trust is becoming more important to the retail experience, and the pandemic era has only magnified the opportunity retailers have to build trust with consumers. In this episode of the Retail Gets Real podcast, Barbra Bukovac, vice chair of consumer markets at PwC, shares insights from the firm’s recent Trust in U.S. Business Survey and how retailers can strengthen consumer relationships.

Although trust is beginning to be a priority in how businesses think about their strategy moving forward, what exactly drives trust and how can it be measured?

During the peak of the pandemic, there was one factor that was universally valued: safety. Transparency about what companies were doing to keep their stakeholders safe was prioritized so heavily that many companies actually rated higher for trust during the pandemic than they had before it started. 

Research from PwC shows three major common elements when looking at what trust means to both customers and employees: Data protection and privacy, treatment of employees and ethical business practices. On top of that, being able to admit when you make a mistake is paramount. People can be forgiving, but if a company tries to hide a mistake, it can severely damage trust.

Listen to the full episode to learn more about the factors that impact trust and how to repair or regain trust during difficult times.