H-E-B has regained its leadership position from Amazon as the top U.S. grocer by consumer preference with Costco following closely behind in second place, reports Dunnhumby, a data science platform. Today the company released the sixth annual Retailer Preference Index, a nationwide study that examines the U.S. grocery market.
It ranked the top grocers as follows:
1. H-E-B
2. Costco
3. Amazon
4. Wegmans
5. Sam’s Club
6. Market Basket
7. Amazon Fresh
8. Trader Joe’s
9. WinCo Foods
10. BJs
The study ranks grocers by combining financial results with customer perception. It includes the largest 63 retailers in the industry that sell everyday food and nonfood household items. The financial data used in the Dunnhumby model comes from Edge Ascential, and the customer perception data is sourced from Dunnhumby’s annual survey of 10,000 American grocery shoppers that was conducted in November 2022, as well as additional company survey results from 2022 and 2021.
“In 2017 we set out on a journey to understand how customers’ preferences and retailers’ financial results predicted which retailers would last. But little did we know that in the ensuing six years consumers and retailers would have a lifetime of difficulties including a pandemic that shook consumer behavior and the global economy, a prolonged period of supply change struggles, and a once-in-a-generation inflation crisis," said Matt O’Grady, Dunnhumby's president of the Americas, in a statement. "We believe this report can serve as a blueprint to help grocers improve their competitive positions, while providing key findings for marketing and consumer preferences.”
In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic helped solidify Amazon as the top grocery retailer over H-E-B, since Amazon excelled at both saving customers time and providing a seamless ecommerce experience. But H-E-B reclaimed the top spot because of its ability to deliver better savings, customer experience, and assortment, according to the report.
The report also found that Amazon is still superior in online shopping, but all online retailers are closing the gap. In fact, 52 percent of customers at the top 15 U.S. retailers reported an easy online shopping experience, up 13 percent from 2019. Target, Sam’s Club, and Walmart follow closely behind Amazon and Amazon Fresh as the top online shopping channels.
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