Retail Feedback Group Study Finds Shoppers Continue to Score Supermarkets Highest in Quality and Variety; Aldi A Growing Competitive Force

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Jan. 29, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Retail Feedback Group (RFG), a leader in providing actionable stakeholder feedback, today released the 2019 U.S. Supermarket Experience Study. The research found that supermarkets continue to maintain the strongest overall satisfaction score (4.31 on a five-point scale), when compared to Aldi (4.27) and Walmart (3.93). Supermarkets also have the highest scores in quality and variety.

However, considering value for money spent, Aldi receives the top score, as well as garners the highest overall satisfaction during the peak traffic hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. (4.30) versus supermarkets (4.27) and Walmart (3.98).      

Supermarkets Strong in Quality, Cleanliness and Variety but Score Moderate to Low in Service

Supermarket shoppers rated quality/freshness of the food and groceries (4.44), cleanliness of the store (4.42) and item variety and selection (4.38) as the strongest core experience factors. Associate friendliness, while the highest service rating, received a more moderate score of 4.32, followed by checkout speed/efficiency (4.28), associate helpfulness/knowledge (4.24) and the lowest scoring service area - associate availability - (4.17).  Service is a critical factor given that overall satisfaction is significantly higher when service attributes receive stronger scores.  

Value for Money Spent Lowest Score for Supermarkets but Advertised Specials Strong

Tied for the lowest score among all core experience factors, value for the money spent registered 4.17. Looking at specific price attributes, the results show produce prices (3.99), meat/poultry prices (4.00) and everyday prices (4.01) all received low scores in the supermarket channel, while advertised sales items scored much higher (4.34). This is an important strength, as 73% of shoppers refer to one or more advertising/sales vehicles – traditional, social, mobile and digital – before or during the visit.  

Brian Numainville, RFG Principal noted, "Value still remains a very important consideration for supermarket retailers with more than seven out of ten shoppers referring to sales vehicles before or during the visit to the store. While supermarkets receive the lowest scores on value for money spent, the good news is that advertised specials register as the strongest scoring pricing factor for supermarkets. While digital circulars (30%) continue to grow, the printed circular is still more popular today (51%), more so with Boomers (62%) as compared to Millennials (40%). However, digital coupons (33%) have now surpassed clipped coupons (29%) and are used across all age groups. Retailers need to remain attentive to the trends in their local markets to ensure they are communicating value using the vehicles most relevant to their shoppers."

Aldi Continues to Strengthen while Walmart Remains Weakest

Aldi shoppers are more likely to recommend the store, with a Net Promoter Score® of 44.7 compared to supermarkets (40.7) or Walmart (27.1). Further, 42% of those who shopped at Aldi say they plan to shop there more in the next 12 months, versus 22% for supermarket shoppers and 28% for Walmart shoppers. Turning to core experience ratings, Aldi shoppers give value for money spent the highest mark (4.51) versus Walmart shoppers (4.32) and supermarket shoppers (4.17). With the exception of value for money spent, Walmart shoppers score Walmart lowest on the other core experience factors relative to supermarkets and Aldi. It is also noteworthy that Aldi has moved into a tie with supermarkets on quality and freshness (56% "highly satisfied"), with Walmart trailing at 46%.

Doug Madenberg, RFG Principal, observed, "Aldi continues to make inroads in competing against supermarkets with strong value for money spent and likelihood to recommend scores, as well as perceived improvement in quality, coupled with the highest OSAT scores during the peak traffic period of 3 pm – 7 pm. As Aldi continues to remodel stores and expand into new locations, supermarkets need to step up their game in areas like staff availability and helpfulness, maintain leading scores in quality and variety, as well as focus operationally on improving satisfaction during high traffic time periods."  

Boomers Rate Supermarkets Highest

Boomers outscore Millennials on nearly all core experience factors with the exception of value for money spent which is scored similarly across all three generations. Additionally, Boomers score supermarkets more highly than both Gen X and Millennials on several factors including quality, variety, and friendliness of staff.

Grocery retailers, food distributors and media outlets can obtain a free copy of the full report or request an interview / presentation of the results from the principals of Retail Feedback Group at [email protected]. The study is based on a nationally representative study of 1,200 supermarket shoppers.

About The Retail Feedback Group

The Retail Feedback Group (RFG) offers a broad spectrum of research, consumer insight and consulting services. Its flagship program, Constant Customer Feedback (CCF), is the first automated feedback platform specifically designed and introduced for supermarket retailers, and is currently implemented in hundreds of locations across the United States. Other key RFG services include employee engagement and culture assessments, customer satisfaction surveys, consumer research and market analysis. For more information visit www.retailfeedback.com and follow RFG on Twitter @TheFeedbackGrp.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

Media Contact: Brian Numainville, Principal, 516-829-4200 ext. 115, [email protected]

SOURCE Retail Feedback Group