Customer purchase intent has been positive or stable for select, top chains throughout 2022, though down year over year for the grocery space overall.

Grocery stores improving the most during the past three months showed higher customer satisfaction with the main factors customers select as the most important when shopping for groceries. Price is selected as the most important factor determining satisfaction with a particular brand, followed by Selection, Speed/Checkout, Cleanliness, and Quality.

Martin’s Supermarkets, a Midwest chain operated by SpartanNash, leads Grocery in Purchase Intent improvement over the last three months, up from -5% in July 2022 to 3% in October 2022. The improvement implies the store is getting credit for some of its recent innovations. For example, in November, nearly 100 SpartanNash locations, including Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets and D&W Fresh Market storefronts, will be available to shop through Uber and Uber Eats. Over the last six months, Martin’s saw the greatest improvements in customer sentiment towards its Selection, Speed/Checkout, Cleanliness and Quality.

Randalls, an Alberstons’ company with locations in Texas, improved its Purchase Intent from -13% to -7% during the past three months. The chain has been reducing its number of stores, cutting costs, and focusing efforts on its key properties and core customers. For decades, Randalls was a leading upscale supermarket chain in Houston catering to the upper-middle class. However, Safeway acquired Randalls in 1999, and then Albertsons acquired Safeway and the Randalls brand in 2015. These corporations removed high-end products and replaced them with more generic, less high-end products. Randalls has been trying to lure back customers by remodeling stores and introducing online ordering, curbside pickup, and home delivery services. These efforts have been improving sentiment and satisfaction with customers, who now recognize the chain for better Price, Selection and Cleanliness.

Save Mart, up  from -8% to -2% over the past three months, added hundreds of new items per year to its existing lines, as well as creating new ones as part of its ongoing private label expansion. It is focusing on a three-tier approach to its own brands’ value proposition: unique flavors, national brand equivalents and cost-saving options. “With the economic pressures our shoppers are facing today, the ongoing expansion of our proprietary brand options and everyday solutions we provide, reaffirms our commitment to our customers in the strongest way possible,” said Rebecca Calvin, chief merchandising officer in a press release this year. Over the last six months, Save Mart saw the greatest improvements in customer sentiment towards Selection, Speed/Checkout, and Cleanliness.

Stores with the most improved Purchase Intent during the past three months show high customer satisfaction with Price and Selection. These two factors, more important during inflationary periods, are helping top grocers to gain market share from the competition. We continue to monitor these trends as the economic and pricing uncertainty unfolds.

¹ All metrics presented are on a trailing three-month basis, unless otherwise noted.