Amazon, H-E-B stay atop dunnhumby grocery retailer ranking
Digital’s importance grows in driving financial performance, customer perception
January 12, 2022
Amazon and H-E-B held their places as the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. grocery retailers in the fifth annual dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index (RPI), with Market Basket displacing Trader Joe’s for the No. 3 spot.
In a year when a global pandemic underscored the importance of supermarkets, Amazon bested H-E-B and Trader Joe’s as the top U.S. grocery retailer in the fourth annual dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index (RPI).
The 2022 dunnhumby RPI, released yesterday, polled 10,000 U.S. households and evaluated more than 60 of the largest retailers in the $1 trillion U.S. grocery market, ranking them based on consumer emotional sentiment, execution in serving customer needs and financial performance.
After Amazon, H-E-B and Market Basket in the top three spots, Wegmans Food Markets came in at No. 4, the same as in the 2021 RPI, while Amazon Fresh — Amazon’s nascent supermarket chain — made its debut on the list at No. 5, pushing Aldi down a notch to sixth place. Trader Joe’s finished at No. 7 after coming in third last year.
Sam’s Club (No. 8), Costco Wholesale (No. 9) and Target (No. 11) each fell one spot on this year’s list, while Walmart moved up one rung to No. 13 and its Walmart Neighborhood Market banner debuted at No. 10. Also making their premiere among the RPI’s first-quartile retailers were BJ’s Wholesale Club at No. 14 and Fareway at No. 15. Publix finished in the twelfth spot after taking ninth place last year.
“The pandemic has massively accelerated changes in how customers buy their groceries, and their behaviors are continuing to evolve,” Grant Steadman, president of Chicago-based dunnhumby North America, said in a statement. “2021 was the year that grocery retail became truly omnichannel. Retailers who delivered on their customers' evolving needs in-store and online performed best. This was mostly the larger players, who used their advantages to consolidate their positions.
“The challenges for most other retailers are significant, but a number of midsize grocers gained momentum by understanding their customers better and differentiating their offering accordingly,” Steadman noted. “The report aims to provide some direction on why and how retailers can best position themselves to win with customers, in this era of the ‘Great Reinvention’.”
The Top Finishers: A Closer Look
Customer data science specialist dunnhumby said its grocery RPI focuses on seven “preference drivers” — price; quality; digital; operations; convenience; discounts, rewards and information; and speed — that shape consumers’ emotional connection to a grocery retailer and that company’s financial performance. In tandem with the survey of U.S. households, the index’s statistical model reflects retailer financial measures such as size (grocery market share), efficiency (grocery sales per square foot) and sales growth (year-over-year growth and five-year compound annual growth rate).
Grocery retailers able to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and serve the most relevant shopper needs — while being agile enough to change their formula as necessary and respond to shifting customer preferences — tend to have the strongest emotional bond with consumers and the most financial success, according to dunnhumby. That marked a change from last year, when a superior value perception — i.e. an attractive mix of price and quality — was the chief measure of success.
Seattle-based e-tail giant Amazon has now finished first on dunnhumby’s U.S. Grocery RPI for two straight years.