Publix, H-E-B, Kroger Top Customer Experience Rating Survey

Publix and H-E-B deliver the best customer experience in the supermarket industry, according to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

This year, supermarkets earned the three highest scores in the entire ratings by the Waban, Mass.-based customer experience benchmarking research firm, whose studies cover 294 companies across 20 industries ranging from airlines, appliance makers, auto dealers and banks, to car rental agencies, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast-food chains, health plans, hotel chains and insurance carriers.

Overall, the supermarket industry averaged a 74 percent rating in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings and placed first out of 20 industries.

"Supermarkets have been the highest-scoring industry since their inclusion in the ratings in 2012, and this year was no different," said Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Publix took the top spot for the second year in a row with a rating of 81 percent, vaulting the Lakeland, Fla.-based chain to first place out of the 294 companies across 20 industries.

San Antonio-based H-E-B paced as runner-up, with a score of 79 percent, while Kroger and Save-a-Lot tied for third place, each with a score of 78 percent and a third overall ranking.

Of the 20 supermarkets included in the Temkin Ratings, two more – Wegmans and Aldi – also made it into the top 10, ranking seventh and ninth, respectively.

At the other end of the spectrum, Vons spent its first year in the Temkin Rratings at the bottom of the industry, with a score of 63 percent and a rank of 125th.

The ratings for all supermarkets in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings are as follows:

• Publix (81%)
• H-E-B (79%)
• Kroger (78%)
• Save-a-Lot (78%)
• Wegmans (77%)
• Aldi (76%)
• Food Lion (75%)
• ShopRite (75%)
• Giant Eagle(75%)
• Wawa Food Markets (74%)
• Hy-Vee (74%)
• Winn-Dixie (74%)
• Trader Joe's (74%)
• Hannaford (73%)
• Piggly Wiggly (72%)
• Albertsons (69%)
• Stop & Shop (69%)
• Safeway (69%)
• Whole Foods (68%)
• Vons(63%)

Wegmans (+1 points) was the only supermarket to improve its rating between 2015 and 2016, while Whole Foods (-10 points), Albertsons (-9 points), Hannaford (-8 points) and Trader Joe's (-8 points) declined the most between 2015 and 2016.

To generate its ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions, then tallies the averages for the three scores to produce each company's rank:

• Success (can you do what you want to do?)
• Effort (how easy is it to work with the company?)
• Emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). In these ratings, a score of 70 percent or above is considered "good," and a score of 80 percent or above is considered "excellent." In this year's Temkin Experience Ratings, 20 percent of companies earned a "good" or "excellent" score, while 44 percent received a "poor" or "very poor" score.

The 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website.