When it comes to the most popular grocery stores across the nation, some stand out above the others, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index, an annual ranking of everything from the best grocery stores to the top online retailers.
The survey organization recently asked 40,000 consumers for their opinion of grocery stores based on several categories including store hours, location, variety, quality and freshness of meat and produce, layout and cleanliness of the store, availability of merchandise and speed of checkout process. The biggest takeaway from the survey, conducted through email interviews between January and December 2023, is that satisfaction is up across the board.
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Most years some stores see scores go up while others go down. The overall improvements in customer satisfactionmay be due to a return to normalcy after the pandemic.Last year was the first time consumers were able to go into stores that are fully stocked and staffed, and as a result, they are pleased with their experiences, says Forrest Morgeson, assistant professor of marketing at Michigan State University and the survey group’s emeritus director of research.
The survey also found three supermarkets surpassing the previous top chain. For years Trader Joe’s held the top spot, but that changed for 2024, with Costco, H-E-B and Publix pulling out ahead with tied scores of 85 on a scale of zero to 100.
“Trader Joe’s is one of the leaders in the industry, and we attribute that to its competitive pricing model and unique offerings,” Morgeson says. “They didn’t lose a point, but companies jumped ahead of that by a single point.” In the satisfaction survey, Costco and Publix moved up three points while H-E-B’s satisfaction score increased by four. Morgeson said those increases were likely driven by consumers’ focus on saving money and traditional supermarkets’ efforts to step things up to compete with the likes of Trader Joe’s.
“During and after COVID we not only had rising prices because of supply issues, we also had inflation. Consumers became a bit more value conscious,” Morgeson says. That plays into Costco’s strengths. It not only has its popular Kirkland brand but also offers larger product quantities at discounted prices.
Since 1994, the survey has polled consumers chosen randomly to gauge their satisfaction with the quality of products and services offered by both foreign and domestic firms with significant market share in the U.S. The survey scores consumer responses on a 1 to 10 scale and converts it to a scale of zero to 100 when reporting the results.
Check out the list below to see if your grocery store made the top 10.
Favorite Supermarkets
1. Costco
Score: 85
Year-over-year change: +4 percent
2. H-E-B
Score: 85
Year-over-year change: +5 percent
3. Publix
Score: 85
Year-over-year change: +4percent
4. Trader Joe’s
Score: 84
Year-over-year change: none
5. Sam’s Club
Score: 83
Year-over-year change: +5percent
6. BJ's
Score: 82
Year-over-year change: +4percent
7. Target
Score: 82
Year-over-year change: +4percent
8. Wegmans
Score: 82
Year-over-year change: +3percent
9. Whole Foods
Score: 82
Year-over-year change: +4percent
