Grocery

H-E-B regains top spot as consumers' favorite grocer of 2022

H-E-B came in at No. 1 in Dunnhumby’s ranking in 2019, only to be dethroned by Amazon for the next two years.
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Francis Scialabba

· less than 3 min read

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Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.

On Tuesday, Dunnhumby released its sixth annual retailer preference index—a nationwide study examining 63 retailers in grocery that surveyed 10,000 consumers—and found that H-E-B was the most preferred grocer in 2022.

  • Costco came right after H-E-B, followed by Amazon, Wegmans, and Sam’s Club to round out the top five.
  • H-E-B retook the top spot from Amazon, which held it for the past two years.

“The surge to digital and e-commerce adoption by customers—a large chunk of it has stuck. [We] knew that also a large chunk might be temporary,” Erich Kahner, director of competitive strategy and insights at Dunnhumby, told Retail Brew. “H-E-B resuming its spot, pushing Amazon back down, reflects that more temporary nature of all of that shift.”

In evaluating grocers, Dunnhumby examines five preference drivers: price, promotions, and rewards; quality; speed and convenience; digital; and operations. Kahner explained that these factors are what drive long-term retailer results, with costs and quality as the two most important factors.

  • Plus, as inflation spiked to 40-year highs last year, consumers sought out grocers that maintained a healthy balance between affordability and product quality.

The devotion of H-E-B’s shoppers tracks to before the pandemic, when the Texas-based grocery chain clocked in at No. 1 in 2019.

  • Other grocers that charted highly in the rankings were regional chains, such as Winco and Market Basket, that were able to deliver on a better customer value proposition compared to some of their bigger competitors.

Rounding out the top 10, we have: Market Basket, Amazon Fresh, Trader Joe’s, Winco, and BJ’s Wholesale.

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the know

Retail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.