Study rates food stores highest for quality, variety

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. — Shoppers rate supermarkets highest in quality and variety compared with discounter rivals such as Aldi and Walmart.

But the discounters score highest in terms of shopper perceptions of value.

These and other ratings come courtesy of the “2019 U.S. Supermarket Experience Study,” released this week by the Retail Feedback Group, which promotes itself as a designer of “feedback systems” for retailers.

The firm’s report assigns an overall satisfaction score of 4.31 to supermarkets. Aldi rates 4.27 on the five-point scale, while Walmart received a score of 3.93.

“Value still remains a very important consideration for supermarket retailers, with more than seven out of 10 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,” said Brian Numainville, a principal at Retail Feedback Group. “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.”

The firm said its report is based on a nationwide survey of 1,200 shoppers to gauge food retailers on quality and freshness, store cleanliness, item variety and selection, staff friendliness, checkout speed, and other factors.

Older shoppers gave consistently more favorable ratings to supermarkets than younger consumers.

Overall, shoppers rated supermarkets strongly in quality/freshness of the food and groceries (4.44), store cleanliness (4.42) and product variety and selection (4.38). Staff friendliness was supermarkets’ highest service rating (4.32), followed by checkout speed/efficiency (4.28) and staff helpfulness/knowledge (4.24). The lowest-scoring service area for supermarkets was associate availability, at 4.17.

Aldi garnered the highest rating (4.51) in terms of value for money spent. Walmart received a 4.32 rating on value, and supermarkets a 4.17 score.

Aldi had the highest overall satisfaction during the peak traffic hours of 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

“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,” according to Doug Madenberg, a principal at Retail Feedback Group. “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.”