Customer First Radio Episode 2 | Erich Kahner, Associate Director of Customer Strategy at dunnhumby
The 2021 Retailer Preference Index: Who's winning and why. David Ciancio, Global Head of Grocery discusses the 2021 U.S Retailer Preference Index (RPI): Grocery Edition with the lead author of the RPI, Erich Kahner. They unveil key insights and discuss who is winning and who is best positioned for the future.
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In dunnhumby's second annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI) study, a comprehensive nationwide study, we re-examine the evolving US grocery landscape to help retailers navigate an increasingly fragmented market where shoppers are, on average, shopping at four grocery stores per month and regularly buying groceries from at least three other channels. The study focuses on the following questions:
- What drives preference?
- Who is winning and losing?
- Why are they winning or losing?
- What can grocery retailers do to improve preference and performance?
Existing retailer rankings by Consumer Reports or Market Force only use survey data to capture how shoppers feel about the various banners without linking the emotion to financial performance. Others, like Supermarket News, rank banners based on financial metrics but fail to capture how people feel.
Our study is different because it quantifies the preference driver importance based on a combination of a banner's emotional connection and financial performance. The emotional connection was captured through a 15-minute online survey across 7,000 US households about how customers think and feel about 56 US grocery retailers.
The list of banners evaluated, in alphabetical order, include:
Acme
Albertsons Aldi Amazon Big Y Foods Bi-Lo BJs Wholesale Brookshires Costco Food City Food Lion Food4Less/Foods Co. Fred Meyer Frys Food Stores Giant Eagle Giant Foods Hannaford Harris Teeter H-E-B Hy-Vee |
Ingles Markets
Jewel-Osco King Soopers Kroger Lidl Lowes Foods Market Basket Meijer Peapod Price Chopper Publix Raley's Ralphs Safeway Sam's Club Save Mart Schnucks Shaws/Star Market ShopRite Smart & Final |
Smiths
Sprouts Farmers Market Stater Bros Stop & Shop Supervalu Target The Fresh Market Tops Trader Joes Vons Walmart Walmart Neighborhood Wegmans Weis Markets WinCo Winn-Dixie |
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To learn more, download a free copy of the report. If your banner is in our report and you'd like your custom brief, contact us.
The traditional, regional U.S. grocery store—it's the institution that has fed communities for decades and families for generations. It offers that connection to a simpler time, a time when the guy behind the meat counter would know Customers by name, a time when a dad pushed his child around in a shopping cart while they "helped" him shop and a time before mobile phones invaded our lives and sped up the pace of life…
That place—the traditional grocery store—has history. Customers and the people who work there are part of a family. That kind of emotional connection is priceless.
If this is true, then why does Aldi—which borrows a quarter per shopping cart and operates with a small crew that arranges shelves while taking care of customers—have a stronger emotional connection with shoppers than 90% of its competitors?
Yes, that's right. Aldi, known for its cost cutting and low prices, has– an emotional connection that is stronger than nine out of 10 traditional grocery stores.
Traditional grocers may take for granted that they have an advantage over non-traditional channels in the strength of their emotional connection with shoppers, but that doesn't appear to be the case at all. So just how bad is it for traditional grocers?
The inconvenient truth is that the average traditional grocery store has a lower emotional connection with its shopper than the average store in any other major channel where groceries are sold. While traditional grocers have been focused on selling groceries to the same towns for decades, non-traditional grocers have been able to move into those towns and secure a stronger emotional connection in far less time.
How? Well, it appears that emotional connection does have a price, after all. In fact, price perception is slightly more associated with emotional connection than perception of the quality of products and store experience:
And, whereas traditional grocers have managed to hold their own on quality perceptions, they lose on price perception.
So, where does the traditional grocer start if they want to win back the hearts of their local constituents? After all, there are many levers they can pull within pricing, assortment, and store experience to move perceptions. A close look at data from our 2019 Retailer Preference Index: Grocery Channel Edition offers some hints. Stores who have the strongest emotional connection separate themselves from the pack with the following:
- Private brands that customers love
- Leading prices on natural and organic items
- Fast checkout
- Staff who show they value shoppers
Translated into language customers might use, that means:
- Have products I can't get anywhere else, at competitive prices
- Make healthy food affordable
- Don't waste my time
- Treat me like a person
Of the 56 retailers ranked by emotional connection, 24 of the bottom 25 are traditional retailers. And while Aldi, ranked 17th for emotional connection, has been used as a stark example to illustrate traditional grocers' emotional connection issue, many other non-traditional stores have a stronger emotional connection with their shoppers than Aldi does with theirs.
However, 3 traditional grocery stores buck the trend and join non-traditional retailers in the top 10: Market Basket (4th), H-E-B (5th) and Publix (6th). They each check more than one of the boxes on the core ingredients of emotional connection.
These retailers, more than any other traditional, regional grocer, have established with their emotional connection an insurance policy for an uncertain grocery industry future. And the prevalence of non-traditional grocers with superior emotional connection proves the point that this insurance policy is more a product of "what have you done for me lately" than a product of consumer nostalgia. Non-traditional grocers are buying emotional connection with better prices while delivering on some combination of a superior private label, offering the best natural and organic prices and having staff who show they value customers.
Customer First: How Retailers Can Improve Value Perception to Drive Preference and Performance
Growing competition from traditional players and new market entrants. Machine learning and artificial intelligence. The Connected Consumer. Retail has never been more challenging. But, forget the so-called "retail apocalypse." The end is not here. We're in the midst of a retail revolution where the winners and the losers are yet to be determined. As retail continues to fragment, understanding how to develop a strong value proposition is vital for future success.
Hear results and insights from dunnhumby's second-annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI), a comprehensive nationwide study of 7,000 US households. The webinar will shed light on what's most important to Customers, and highlight which strategic levers retailers must pull to influence value perception and win in their markets.
Join the webinar to learn:
- What drives preference?
- Who is winning and losing? And why?
- What can grocery retailers do to improve consumer preference and financial performance?
Webinar Date: Thursday, March 28, 2019
Duration: 1 hour
Webinar On Demand with Chain Store Age: How Value Perception Shapes Consumer Retail Preference
Want to improve your financial performance and deepen engagement with your customers? Improving your value perception is key. How customers feel about your prices and quality are the 2 biggest drivers of financial performance and emotional connection for a brand, as shown in dunnhumby's nationwide study, the Retailer Preference Index (RPI). With findings from 11,000 US households, the study sheds light on what's most important to customers, and highlights which marketing levers retailers must pull to influence value perception. As retail continues to fragment and commoditize, understanding how to develop a strong value proposition is vital for future success.
Watch Chain Store Age's webinar to hear our Pricing and Strategy experts Ted Eichten and Eric Karlson present key findings from the RPI which can help retailers shape winning strategies.
Download today to learn:
- What drives retailer preference among customers?
- Which retailers are winning and losing? And why?
- Which 3 factors have the greatest influence on performance?