Lots of Love for Grocers in New Customer Experience Survey

Grocery sellers dominate a new customer-experience ranking of leading U.S. companies from experience-management resources provider Qualtrics. 

Costco claimed the top spot on Qualtrics' 2022 Experience Index, which was generated based on a survey of 4,000 U.S. consumers about their experiences with brands across 25 industries. The wholesale club earned scores of 97–99 from consumers based on product experience, customer experience and brand experience. 

Rounding out the top five on the Experience Index were Amazon, Kroger, Publix and Aldi. Trader Joe's came in at No. 10; other grocery-industry players making the top 50 were Dollar General (No. 16) and Target (No. 25).

"As the pandemic continues to impact daily life, we're all working, entertaining and cooking more at home," Bruce Temkin, head of Seattle- and Provo, Utah-based Qualtrics XM Institute, said in a news release. "In an online world where switching brands is as easy as turning on your phone, successful organizations met customers where they were, whether they needed curbside pickup, reliable delivery or a touch-free payment system." 

Not that all of those offerings were necessary for success with customers: In its introduction to top-ranking Costco, Qualtrics noted that "for all the talk of shoppers flocking online, it’s a brick-and-mortar retailer" that earned No. 1 status with consumers.

Trader Joe's, which has no e-commerce offering, received the lowest marks for product experience (79) of any company in Qualtrics' top 10, but the grocer's work to "double down on the authentic connection between employees and customers" drove a customer-experience score of 97. Two-thirds of consumers surveyed, Qualtrics noted, said a good customer experience was a top driver of brand loyalty.

No. 2 Amazon was separated within the rankings from the Seattle-based behemoth's Prime Video streaming service, which came in at No. 24. Amazon, steadily building out its Amazon Fresh grocery concept and still offering discounts to Prime members at Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, has "built Prime into an experience that 150 million people can’t imagine living without," Qualtrics commented.

Among other grocery players making the top 10, Kroger "delivered convenience and ease with fast pivots to contactless payments, safety measures in stores, and heavy investments in e-commerce," Qualtrics stated. The company cited Kroger's partnership with U.K.-based tech provider Ocado to improve speed, efficiency and accuracy in online order fulfillment three "essential ingredients of the experience to get right if Kroger is to win in today’s omnichannel landscape," according to Qualtrics.

Qualtrics also gave high marks to Publix for its "culture of employee owners who deliver personalized human experiences" and to Aldi for investing in technologies to make the checkout process faster. Nongrocers making the top 10 were Bose, Android, Visa and Etsy.