Consumer Grocery Store Survey Reveals Wide Range of Satisfaction and Brand Preferences by Geography

Empathica Inc., a provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions to some of the world's most respected brands, announced that its Consumer Insights Panel survey of more than 16,000 North American consumers ranked grocery stores on how well they deliver on customer service expectations across five primary service areas: merchandise, promotions, operations, people and technology.  Consumers from each region also revealed their primary grocery store of choice based on their overall customer experience.

When looking at overall consumer sentiments in the U.S. versus Canada, grocery expectations for service elements were very similar. Consumers felt that operations and merchandise were the two most important elements in grocery shopping versus other elements such as promotions, people and technology.

Those doing best overall included Wegman's Food Markets in the U.S., and Safeway in Canada. These conclusions were drawn by looking only at the most important customers for each brand, which are those who said they spend 50% or more of their money at that particular grocer. While Wegman's had the highest scores across all service elements for the U.S., Trader Joe's, Publix Super Markets, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods Market also ranked high across four out of the five service areas - yet falling short with promotions. The promotions category took into account loyalty programs, availability of coupons, as well as pricing, availability and frequency of promotions.

"In light of current economic conditions, grocery stores must pay attention to all service areas in order to preserve customer loyalty," said Brian Jones, Empathica V.P. of Grocery. "Promotions are no exception. Although 48% of respondents consider electronic offers to be important, one-third felt those offers did not always meet their expectations. Grocers need to be aware of what their customers want, and to deliver accordingly. If you're a grocer, and half of your customers are saying you don't have enough electronic offers, you're not making their experience with your brand the best that it can be."

In Canada, Safeway had the highest score in meeting customer expectations across all service areas, with Overwaitea Food Group coming in a very close second. Wal-Mart Stores ranked near the bottom of the list for operations, people and promotions among Canadians. In the U.S., Wal-Mart ranked among the lowest in those same service areas, in addition to merchandise. A&P, C&S Wholesale Grocers and Unified Grocers also ranked among the lowest across all five service areas.

Consumers Rank Preferred Grocery Stores by Region - by Excellent Customer Experience

More than 85% of surveyed consumers indicated they will spend more or the same at grocery stores and supermarkets within the next three months. Additionally, more than half of consumers reported spending more than half of their grocery dollars at their primary supermarket.
 

"According to the survey, a considerable number of U.S. consumers shop at Wal-Mart for their groceries. In fact, more than one out of every four consumers shopped for groceries at Wal-Mart," said Jones. "This is largely indicative of their prices. For low-cost brands like Wal-Mart and Costco, price is often the overall experience a customer has with the brand. For other grocers looking to compete with the Wal-Mart's and Costco's of the world, they must differentiate on the customer experience. It's difficult to battle with them on price across all product categories, so to survive long-term, brands need to compete in a different way. That means being smarter about how they deal with their customers."



Survey results show the top preferred grocers by region, based solely on the overall customer experience.


Top Five Grocers in U.S. Regions, Based on Overall Customer Experience:

Midwest:
1.       Giant Eagle
2.       Meijer Inc.
3.       Kroger Co.
4.       Hy-Vee Food Stores
5.       Aldi

Northeast:
1.       Wegmans Food Markets
2.       Delhaize America
3.       Ahold USA
4.       Wakefern Food Corp.
5.       Giant Eagle

South:
1.       Harris Teeter
2.       Publix Super Markets
3.       Kroger Co.
4.       H.E. Butt Grocery Co.
5.       Safeway

West
1.       Kroger Co.
2.       Safeway
3.       Supervalu
4.       Costco Wholesale Corp.
5.       WinCo Foods


Top Canadian Grocers by Region, Based on Overall Customer Experience:

West: Overwaitea Food Group and Safeway [tied]
Atlantic: Sobeys
Ontario: Loblaw Cos.
Quebec: Sobeys