H-E-B Rated Top Grocer in the Nation
SAN ANTONIO — H-E-B is taking home gold as the top-rated grocer in the nation, according to global customer data science company Dunnhumby's Retail Preference Index (RPI).
Now in its third year, the RPI for the U.S. grocery channel looks at the top 60 companies in the food and consumables space and employs a unique methodology to rank companies on seven key metrics that feed into an overall ranking, including: price; quality; digital; operations; convenience; discounts, rewards, information; and speed.
H-E-B's move into first place was driven by its sustained focus and excellence in assortment relevance and private brand, and is consistent with Dunnhumby's findings that some regional grocers are gaining ground and going toe-to-toe with leading nontraditional retailers, reported Convenience Store News sister publication Progressive Grocer.
The grocery retailers with the highest overall customer preference index scores are:
- H-E-B
- Trader Joe's
- Amazon
- Market Basket
- Wegmans Food Markets
- Costco
- Aldi
- Sam’s Club
- Walmart
- Publix
- WinCo Foods
- Fresh Thyme Farmers Market
- Sprouts Farmers Markets
- ShopRite
According to Dunnhumby, companies' "value core" has the largest impact on retailer financial performance and customers' emotional bond with the brand. Price and quality account for half of retailer performance, but other areas — which Dunnhumby refers to as "value amplifiers" — account for the other half and include digital, operations, convenience, speed, and elements of loyalty programs such as discounts and rewards.
Retailers that ranked in the top quartile have a secure value core, but then drive further differentiation through strategic decisions around value amplifiers. Conversely, retailers in the bottom half of the ranking tend to be highly promotional, with poor price perception. Beyond base price and promotion, Dunnhumby asserts that low-ranked retailers aren't appropriately managing areas such as private brand, assortment relevance, rewards programs and store experience, Progressive Grocer reported.
The latest RPI observed notable shifts in the importance of the value core relative to other value amplifiers. For example, in the original report in 2017, the core of price and quality accounted for 72 percent of a retailer’s overall ranking; however, in 2019, the core is down to 50 percent of the overall score.
Additionally, as value amplifiers have gained in importance, convenience and speed have increased their impact on financial performance and emotional bond, accounting for 4 percent of total impact in 2017 and 17 percent in 2019.
Dunnhumby's 2020 Retailer Preference Index is available here.
Convenience Store News and Progressive Grocer are properties of EnsembleIQ.