Air New Zealand, Mitre 10 and PAK’nSAVE have topped the annual Corporate Reputation Index, with the national airline coming in first for the ninth year in a row.

The Kantar Corporate Reputation Index in collaboration with Wright Communications is an annual list that looks at the trust, leadership, fairness and responsibility of a company.

Established in 2015, Air New Zealand has remained on top of the list since then but Mitre 10, home improvement retailer and PAK’nSAVE, the largest supermarket, are hot on the airline’s heels.

Scoring lower than the previous year, the airline has remained on top for scoring the highest for trust and responsibility and coming in fifth for leadership and falling short in the fairness category.

CEO of Air New Zealand Greg Foran says the airline has had a challenging few years but will continue to ensure trust and respect from their consumers.

In second place right after Air New Zealand is Mitre 10, who went up one ranking from the previous year.

The home improvement retailer was able to contend their position by placing second in trust and responsibility and further gaining recognition for their honestly, ethics and commitment to their employees.

Andrea Scown, CEO of Mitre 10 says that they were able to come second place thanks to their dedication to provide during weather crises such as the cyclone and floods that hit the North Island in early 2023.

“Just being able to be a retailer that’s ensuring your people on the ground are getting those doors open as soon as possible, being there for the community and what they need is really important. And it wasn’t easy to run a business in that environment,” says Scown.

She says that being a local co-operative company has been a big part of achieving this ranking and building a trustworthy reputation with local communities.

Read more: Air New Zealand named most attractive employer in the country

“As a Kiwi co-operative, we’ve been doing business and earning trust in every corner of New Zealand for nearly 50 years, and some of our stores have been serving their local communities for many generations more,” she adds.

“It’s not about the transaction today with that customer, we think about the value of that customer for life. People have a relationship with our brand throughout their life, whether they’re starting out, they might be a kid coming in with their parents, then they’re flatting, then they’ll be a new homeowner themselves or be young parents themselves right through to being older and needing assistance with stuff in later years, it really is the type of relationship to have with home improvement for life.”

And despite all the emergencies and crises the country faces, Scown says the main priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of their team, which is something that works for Mitre 10 but will remain a priority going forward.

“Our business is actually about our people, so keeping them and attracting the right people and developing them is really important to us.”

Hoping to take that top spot in the next year, Scown says the one thing that works for them which they will continue to do is invest in the community.

In third place and moving up two rankings from 2022, PAK’nSAVE ranked the highest in the fairness category which Managing Director of Foodstuffs, Chris Quin says is the supermarkets mission from the get-go, giving Kiwi’s the lowest grocery prices.

“It’s always about consistency, particularly PAK’nSAVE’s promise to customers of being the cheapest, and the need for that promise has been greater than ever with the cost of living tension that’s been on New Zealanders,” says Quin.

“There’s no doubt cost of living is top of mind for New Zealanders right now. The consistency, PAK’nSAVE has to be New Zealand’s lowest food prices has to keep working all of the time to get better and better and better at that.”

Alongside consistency, Quin says it is important for Kiwis to understand what is driving costs in groceries which is why transparency is so important for the retailer.

Because of the company’s consistency and transparency, PAK’nSAVE has been able to build a long-term relationship of trust and fairness with their customers.

“You can’t earn trust in one year, you have to earn it by consistency through many years. It takes way longer to earn it than it does to lose it, so you’ve always got to respect that trust and work hard on continuing to deliver it,” adds Quin.

“It is relatively simple. Understand what customers really care about and what they really need. Be very consistent in delivering it and very transparent in your commitments around it.”

Closely followed by PAK’nSAVE in fourth place is Toyota, who went up in ranking, then TVNZ at fifth place, 2022’s second place.

Kantar Corporate Reputation 2023 ranking:

1. Air New Zealand
2. Mitre 10
3. PAK’nSAVE
4. Toyota
5. TVNZ
6. Bunnings
7. AA Insurance
8. Samsung
9. Southern Cross
10. The Warehouse