In the Market Force Information Grocery Ranking 2023, Wegmans was most often cited as a Best in Class food retailer by survey respondents, at 76%, followed by H-E-B, a close second at 73%.
Publix got a 61% best-in-class citation rate, followed by Trader Joe’s, at 52%, and, in a tie, Market Basket and Costco at 51% each.
Brands that scored best in the Market Force survey when it came to customer loyalty, an index that combines satisfaction with the most recent visit and likelihood to recommend, were Trader Joe’s, at 84%, followed by H-E-B, at 83%, Woodman’s Market, at 81% and Wegmans and Publix, tied at 77%. For each of those five retailers, customer loyalty scores improved versus the last grocery ranking study conducted in 2020.
In terms of where shoppers spend their money, H-E-B shoppers spent 78% of their food dollars at the banner in 2022 with other top share-of-wallet stores including Market Basket, at 73%, Price Chopper, at 72%, Smith’s at 72%, and Dillons, Walmart and Stop & Shop, all tied at 71%.
When asked where they spent the majority of their grocery money over the 90 days before participating in the survey, Walmart ranked first with about twice as many citing it as number-two Kroger. Aldi, Costco and Publix trailed.
In terms of value for money, Aldi came in first among survey respondents, followed by Woodman’s Market, Winco Foods, Lidl and Market Basket.
When asked about where shoppers had experienced a problem, Smiths had the lowest response, followed by Trader Joe’s, Winn-Dixie, Wegmans and Grocery Outlet.
In an interesting twist, the survey revealed a number of food retailers whose likelihood of seeing customers switch was zero, yet they had widely varying satisfaction scores, suggesting that shoppers considered their alternatives limited. The food retailers that had a 0% response to the switching question were Meijer, Giant Food Stores, Harris Teeter, Trader Joe’s Market, Stop & Shop, Smith’s, Giant Eagle, Market Basket, Wegmans, Grocery Outlet, Price Chopper, Jewel Osco and Hannaford Supermarkets. Yet, while Trader Joe’s and Wegmans had a 0% likelihood of switching results, and both had a 76% customer satisfaction response, Stop & Shop got a zero despite a customer satisfaction reading of 35%.=
