About The Retail Trust Index
We have conducted this year’s Retail Trust Index in collaboration with our founding partner Empathy.co whose Open Innovation team supported the analysis. The industry study embraces a new approach to recover shoppers’ trust by analysing online tracking practices, cookie usage and data breaches among the UK’s top retail brands.
The consumer research was fielded in August 2023 by 3gem on behalf of the Ethical Commerce Alliance & Empathy.co and surveyed 2,008 UK consumers who shop online.
Online tracker and cookie analysis of the UK’s top retail brands according to YouGov’s brand popularity tracker was conducted by Empathy.co in August 2023.
Angel Maldonado
CEO and co-founder of empathy.co
“This year’s Retail Trust Index signals that change is already here. Tides are turning with retailers like B&M and Lidl leading the industry shift towards trust and transparency. With retailers now investing in privacy, it’s clear that the industry is understanding the value of putting people over profits. The rest of the industry must learn from those respecting consumers, as privacy has now become the currency for success. If retailers don’t respect something as common as privacy they risk losing them to rivals. After all, common sense always prevails in the end.”
Nina Müller
Director of the Ethical Commerce Alliance
“Retailers can no longer ignore the importance of privacy in their digital operations. With regulatory bodies like the ICO and the European Court of Justice looking to uphold the ethical standards laid out by GDPR as they’ve done with Big Tech, retailers have to put customers first. They need to earn their trust, ensuring that ownership, respect and transparency are at the heart of their operations.”