Wawa Comes Out on Top in Latest Industry Satisfaction Survey
WAWA, Pa. — Wawa Inc. is the No. 1 convenience store chain in the eyes of consumers, according to the inaugural "American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Convenience Store Study 2024." The retailer topped the list with an industry-leading score of 82 out of 100.
QuickTrip Corp. is a close No. 2 with an ACSI score of 81, followed by Buc-ee's and Murphy USA Inc., both of which scored 80 points.
Strength in foodservice served as a differentiator for the top-rated chains, according to ACSI. Wawa is a three-time Foodservice Innovator of the Year winner in Convenience Store News' Foodservice Innovators Awards program, and its fellow highly scored brands — which also include Sheetz Inc. and Casey's General Stores Inc. — have made significant investments in prepared food.
"Convenience stores are no longer just a quick stop for gas and snacks — they are becoming serious competitors in the food service industry," said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and ACSI director of research emeritus. "The top-performing convenience store brands are now on par with fast food chains in terms of food quality and variety, offering customers a wide range of fresh, gourmet options. By focusing on the in-store dining experience, while maintaining the speedy service that customers have grown accustomed to, convenience stores may have found the perfect recipe for success."
Across the c-store industry as a whole, convenience of hours and store location received the highest ratings at 83 each. Options for digital convenience also scored well, as the 34% of study respondents who reported using a c-store's mobile app for ordering gave high ranks to app quality (81), app reliability (80) and mobile order pickups (80).
[Read more: Wawa Earns Recognition for Customer Loyalty]
ACSI noted that many of the measured customer experience metrics overlap with attributes from foodservice-based studies, providing useful comparisons to non-c-store brands. While the c-store average score of 80 for cooked food quality falls behind the fast food industry's score of 84, food-focused c-stores such as Wawa, Buc-ee's, Casey's General Stores, Kwik Trip and Sheetz meet or exceed fast food chains on both this metric and when measuring food variety.
Overall, convenience stores (80) fall behind the fast food industry by two points, but Buc-ee's, Wawa, Sheetz and Kwik Trip individually outperformed fast food chains as a whole.
The study also measured customer satisfaction at the regional level in the spirit of friendly competition. Wawa took place in the Northeast and second in the South, where Buc-ee's came out on top. Sheetz ranked second in the Northeast. Additionally, QuikTrip and Kwik Trip took the first two spots in the Midwest.
The full study is available here.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index measures and analyzes customer satisfaction with approximately 400 companies in about 40 industries and 10 economic sectors.
Pennsylvania-based Wawa Inc. operates more than 1,060 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama and Washington, D.C.
The company is No. 9 on the 2024 Convenience Store News Top 100 ranking.