Customer Service

Costco ranks top on experience report rankings

Photo: Kirk Fisher - stock.adobe.com

October 5, 2026

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Costco knocked supermarket chain H-E-B to second place to take the first spot in the second annual ChangeUp "2026 Experience Report," which ranks the top 50 retail brands along with the top 50 restaurants.

ChangeUp surveyed more than 6,500 consumers across 300-plus brands, capturing more than 400,000 data points, according to a press release.

"Consumers are still willing to spend on experience, but as people become more selective, every trip now carries more expectation," Lee Carpenter, CEO of ChangeUp, said in the release. "They're taking fewer trips and asking more of the ones they make. The brands leading the rankings are giving people something that is harder to replace, along with a reason to make the trip and a reason to remember it."

Costco, H-E-B and Fleet Feet scored above the retail average on nearly every dimension.

"What we're seeing in the data is that a brand can do everything it did last year and still lose ground because the experiences around it are getting better," Carpenter said in the release. "Staying relevant requires more than protecting what already works. Brands have to keep finding ways to give people a reason to choose them."