Wegmans, Safeway Score in Customer Service Survey

SN STAFF

TORONTO — Wegmans in the U.S. and Safeway in Canada scored the highest overall scores in a survey of grocery store customer service administered by Empathica Consumer Insights here, the group said.

Empathica said it surveyed more than 16,000 consumers who ranked grocery stores on how well they delivered on customer service expectations across primary service areas of merchandise, promotions, operations, people and technology.

While Wegmans 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 — but fell short with promotions, Empathica said.

The promotions category took into account loyalty programs, availability of coupons, as well as pricing, availability and frequency of promotions.

By region, the top scoring grocery stores were Giant Eagle (Midwest); Wegmans (Northeast); Harris Teeter (South) and Kroger (West), Empathica said.