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H-E-B bests Amazon as dunnhumby’s top U.S. e-grocer

Owned digital asset usage, ease and reliability drive shopper preferences in online grocery

Russell Redman

June 28, 2022

5 Min Read
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No. 1 H-E-B edged out Amazon and its Amazon Fresh supermarket banner as the highest-ranked e-grocer “in a near statistical tie,” dunnhumby noted.H-E-B

Texas grocer H-E-B inched past e-tail giant Amazon as the top-ranked U.S. online grocery retailer in the inaugural dunnhumby eCommerce Retailer Preference Index (RPI).

The 2022 dunnhumby eCommerce RPI, released Tuesday, polled 3,000 U.S. households in the $100 billion U.S. grocery market and ranked 54 retailers based on customer preference drivers of owned digital asset usage, ease and reliability, substitutes, products and price, along with a composite score of change in web visits (2019 to 2021) from SimilarWeb, share of wallet online, and online penetration. Households surveyed shopped online for groceries at least once in the previous 30 days.

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No. 1 H-E-B edged out second- and third-place finishers Amazon and its Amazon Fresh supermarket banner as the highest-ranked e-grocer “in a near statistical tie,” dunnhumby noted. The customer data science specialist said H-E-B generated the highest level of emotional connection and online share of wallet among its customer base out of all the retailers studied. Despite being relatively new to online shopping versus Amazon and Walmart, H-E-B saw its customers shift their spending online the most after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, boosting their e-grocery spending 27% and giving H-E-B the highest share of wallet online.

Related:U.S. e-grocery sales trend down again in May

“H-E-B’s impressive performance proves that it’s possible to compete and win against Amazon when it comes to grocery e-commerce. Their success offers midsize and regional retailers a road map on how to succeed online,” Grant Steadman, president of Chicago-based dunnhumby North America, said in a statement.

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“H-E-B’s e-commerce journey goes back to 2015, when they first started with curbside pickup, and they have since built up a powerful online ecosystem,” Steadman observed. “The combination of a simple and easy-to-use shopping experience with a fantastic emotional connection with customers shows how grocers can thrive in this multichannel landscape.”

Walmart and its Sam’s Club warehouse club subsidiary came in at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively, in the eCommerce RPI. Rounding out the top online grocery retailers were Kroger, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Sprouts Farmers Markets, which had the next-highest scores in the RPI as all three chains finished in the top tercile.

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Dunnhumby said its consumer survey-informed statistical model aims to predict how retailers execute on the customer needs that matter most for driving e-commerce performance and emotional bonds with online shoppers. The eight top-performing retailers in the study all have “well-established” online grocery capabilities, and most also have scale and size as a key competitive advantage, according to dunnhumby, which noted that scale and size enable more e-commerce investment and yield greater operational efficiencies.

Related:Amazon, H-E-B stay atop dunnhumby grocery retailer ranking

First-tercile retailers also show strength in their own digital assets — instead of relying mostly on intermediaries — and have achieved higher adoption, with three of five customers shopping via these assets during their last online trip, dunnhumby said. That, in turn, likely has given these retailers more control over the customer online experience.

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Owned digital asset use and ease/reliability are the top eCommerce RPI drivers because they exhibit the strongest positive correlation with customer sentiment and online performance metrics, dunnhumby said. Walmart, Amazon and Amazon Fresh were the top-ranked retail banners for owned digital asset usage, while Sam’s Club, Amazon Fresh and Aldi were the top three in ease of use and reliability.

Retailers leaning more heavily on intermediaries registered lower scores for the ease/reliability customer preference driver and had higher bounce rates and fewer pages/visits, dunnhumby added. Third-party online grocery shopping and delivery providers Instacart, Shipt and DoorDash had lower emotional connections than nearly every grocery retailer measured, the study found.

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In dunnhumby’s 2022 U.S. Grocery Retailer Preference Index, released in January, Amazon and H-E-B held their places as the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. grocery retailers. Unlike the eCommerce RPI, the U.S. Grocery RPI ranks price as the most important customer preference driver. Rounding out the top eight grocers in that study were Market Basket, Wegmans Food Markets, Amazon Fresh, Aldi, Trader Joe’s and Sam’s Club.

Other key findings in dunnmby’s first eCommerce RPI included the following:

• Omnichannel shoppers, defined as customers who purchase with a grocery retailer across multiple channels, can be up to 40% of all grocery customers. Thirty-eight percent are ages of 25 to 54, have at least two children and buy online two times per month, with three of every five visits to a retail grocer occurring online. On average, they spend $531 per month across all the stores they shop. Of that, $131 per month — or 25% of their share of wallet — is spent at a single retailer.

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• Physical-store-only shoppers account for at least 50% of a grocery retailer’s shopping base. Fifty-seven percent are ages 55 and older and are empty nesters, retirees or both. On average, these shoppers spend $382 per month across all the stores they shop, including $111 (29% of their share of wallet) with one retailer.

“COVID accelerated grocery growth for e-cmmerce, but it may have just brought the grocery sector closer to its e-commerce sales ceiling at a faster rate, rather than raised the height of that ceiling,” dunnhumby stated. “Rising inflation, a subsiding pandemic and increased consumer mobility are putting the brakes on ecommerce growth.”

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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