In customer experience, supermarkets lead the pack

Supermarkets continue to be held in high regard by U.S. consumers in terms of customer experience, with three chains — Wegmans Food Markets, H-E-B and Publix Super Markets — ranking at the top, according to the Temkin Group.

The research and consulting firm said Thursday that in its “2018 Temkin Experience Ratings” survey of 10,000 U.S. shoppers, supermarkets led the list of 20 industries evaluated, posting a customer experience rating of 78.5%. That score is up from 78.1% in 2017, when supermarkets also were No. 1 among industries.

Following supermarkets in the 2018 experience ratings were fast food (76.1%), retail (74.4%), banks (73.1%) and parcel delivery (71.9%). A score of 80% or above in the study is considered “excellent,” 70% or higher is "good" and below 60% is deemed "poor," Temkin said.

By company, Wegmans came in first with a customer experience score of 86% — the highest rating in the supermarket industry as well as out of 318 companies in the study, Temkin noted. H-E-B and Publix tied at No. 2 among supermarkets — and in the overall ratings — with a score of 83%.

"Supermarkets have been the highest-scoring industry since 2012, and this year was no different,” said Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Waban, Mass.-based Temkin Group. “But the leadership has changed, as Wegmans jumped over H-E-B to earn the top spot."

Indeed, Wegmans turned in the top rating among all companies in the three components that Temkin uses to gauge customer experience: success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?) and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). The Rochester, N.Y.-based chain scored 91% in the success element, 90% in effort and 78% in emotion.

Rounding out the top 10 scores among supermarkets for overall customer experience were Aldi and Wawa Food Markets (each at 82%); Trader Joe’s and ShopRite (81%); Save-A-Lot and Food Lion (80%); Meijer, Kroger, Hy-Vee and Winn-Dixie (79%); Albertsons (78%); Safeway and Piggly Wiggly (77%); Stop & Shop (76%); and Vons (75%).

Other food retailers with “good” ratings in the Temkin survey were Giant Eagle (74%), Bi-Lo (73%), Hannaford (72%), Whole Foods Markets (72%) and AmazonFresh (67%).