Publix and H-E-B deliver the best customer experience in the supermarket industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

This year, supermarkets earned the two highest scores in the entire Ratings. With a score of 84%, Publix not only received the highest score in the supermarket industry, it received the highest score in the entire Ratings, ranking 1st out of 331 companies across 20 industries. Likewise, H-E-B earned the second highest score for both the supermarket industry and the Ratings overall with a score of 83%. Hannaford followed close behind with a score of 82% and an overall rank of fourth.

The ratings of all supermarkets in the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings are as follows:

  • Publix: 84%
  • H-E-B: 83%
  • Hannaford: 82%
  • Food Lion: 81%
  • Trader Joe's: 81%
  • AmazonFresh: 80%
  • Kroger: 80%
  • Save-A-Lot: 80%
  • Wegmans: 80%
  • Winn-Dixie: 80%
  • Hy-Vee: 78%
  • Whole Foods: 78%
  • Aldi: 77%
  • Giant Eagle: 77%
  • Albertsons: 76%
  • ShopRite: 76%
  • Stop & Shop: 75%
  • Vons: 75%
  • Piggly Wiggly: 74%
  • Wawa Food Markets: 73%
  • Safeway: 72%

"Supermarkets have been the highest-scoring industry since their inclusion in the Ratings in 2012, and this year was no different. Publix and H-E-B lead a strong group of supermarkets, all of which received at least a "good" rating," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Overall, the supermarket industry averaged a 78% rating in the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings and came in first place out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry improved by four percentage-points between 2016 and 2017, going from 73.8% to 78.1%.

The ratings for all supermarkets increased between 2016 and 2017, with the exception of Wawa Food Markets, whose score stayed the same. Vons improved the most, gaining 12 points, and Whole Foods improved the second most, gaining 10 points from last year.

Now in its seventh year of publication, the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings is the most comprehensive benchmark of customer experience in the industry, evaluating 331 companies across 20 industries: airlines, auto dealers, banks, computer & tablet makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, health plans, hotels & rooms, insurance carriers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, rental cars & transport, retailers, software firms, streaming media, supermarket chains, TV & appliance makers, TV/Internet service providers, utilities, and wireless carriers.

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company's Temkin Experience Rating.

In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good," and a score of 80% or above is considered "excellent," while a score below 60% is considered "poor."

The 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com.

Source: Temkin Group