News

Study says consumer satisfaction with supermarkets is very high

The research found that supermarkets continue to generate high satisfaction among their shoppers, scoring an average of 4.46 on a five-point scale, where five is highest.

October 14, 2014

Research firm The Retail Feedback Group has released its 2014 U.S. Supermarket Experience Study. The research, now in its seventh year, found that supermarkets continue to generate high satisfaction among their shoppers, scoring an average of 4.46 on a five-point scale, where five is highest.

According to the report, creating engagement between shoppers and their supermarket is key to trip satisfaction, store shopping enjoyment and willingness to recommend. Among the findings:

• Checkout:Fully 65 percent of shoppers acknowledge that cashiers have a positive impact on their trip experience.
• In-aisle engagement:Pleasant interactions with store associates — including product recommendations — create an immediate payoff in terms of a larger basket size, as well as a longer-term loyalty building advantage given higher-than-average recommendation and satisfaction scores.
• Active problem-solving:Offering assistance in finding items, resolving out-of-stocks or addressing other problems during the trip helps avoid lost sales and dissatisfied shoppers. Supermarkets show room for improvement as only half of shoppers indicated an issue encountered was resolved during the trip.

Driven by a desire for freshness and to support the local economy, shoppers are expressing interest in locally sourced items, which they define as grown within a certain mile radius (46 percent) or in their state (41 percent). Shoppers are most interested in locally-grown vegetables, followed by fruit, eggs, meat and poultry, and milk.

Closely tied in to the local movement, farmers markets are becoming a competitive force with 78 percent of shoppers buying food items there at least on occasion. Top reasons again center on freshness and supporting the local economy.

With the food industry at the very center of a number of public debates, including GMO transparency, payment security, data privacy, food safety and minimum wages, the survey probed into supermarket perception and performance in these areas. Food safety is a supermarket strong suit, with confidence in supermarkets providing safe food and following recommended food safety measures at a high 4.17 on a five-point scale, where five is extremely confident. In terms of providing payment security from credit and debit card data getting stolen or hacked, supermarkets register a 3.83, while on providing privacy and security of personal data use by third parties, supermarkets score a 3.77. The public's perception of supermarkets compensating employees with a fair wage registers at 3.76. The weakest area centers on the level of confidence that supermarkets provide complete transparency as to whether products contain GMOs (3.52).

More than three-quarters of shoppers use some form of money-saving measure during their visit to the supermarket. Printed grocery circulars are read at home by 50 percent of shoppers and used in store by 25 percent, while electronic circulars are used by 21 percent. Clipped paper coupons (32 percent) are still more used than downloaded digital coupons (19 percent). Considering promotions, 17 percent use in-store only, 13 percent use a loyalty program, and just 5 percent use smartphone research and 4 percent social media promotions.