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H-E-B Tops dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index for Third Time

H-E-B has been named the top U.S. Grocery Retailer in the seventh annual dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index, a comprehensive, nationwide study that examines the approximately $1 trillion U.S. grocery market. H-E-B is the first grocery retailer to be recognized three times as number one in the RPI ranking surpassing Amazon and Trader Joe’s who both ranked as top grocer twice. Amazon (2) and Costco (3) round out the top three grocers in the U.S. for a second year in a row.

The seven other retailers in the top 10 are: 4) Market Basket, 5) Sam’s Club, 6) Wegman’s, 7) Aldi, 8) Shoprite, 9) Walmart Neighborhood Market, 10) Walmart. Retailers in the top quartile of the RPI have a five year CAGR of 8.5 percent compared to 3.6 percent for retailers in the fourth quartile. In addition, 59 percent of customers of first quartile retailers have a strong emotional connection with retailers compared to 41 percent of customers of fourth quartile retailers.

“Knowing your customer and your competitive positioning regarding customer needs will be critical for retailers to scratch out any organic growth in 2024. Customers are re-evaluating their opinions of retailers more than ever and that will only intensify in the coming months due to the economic headwinds facing consumers,” said Matt O’Grady, dunnhumby’s President of the Americas. “In this year’s RPI, we illuminate how the consumer views the grocery market, and how different retailers are meeting the general population’s needs as well as the needs of different consumer segments.”

The dunnhumby RPI is the only approach to ranking grocers that combines financial results with customer perception. It includes the largest 65 retailers in the industry that sell everyday food and non-food household items. The financial data used in the dunnhumby model comes from Edge Ascential, and the customer perception data is sourced from dunnhumby’s annual survey of more than 10,000 American grocery shoppers. The five drivers of the customer value proposition are in order: 1) Price, Promotions, and Rewards, 2) Quality, 3) Digital, 4) Operations, and 5) Speed and Convenience.

Key findings from the study:

  • dunnhumby forecasts the U.S. grocery market sales growth will be 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent in 2024– one of only three times in the last 30 years with growth below 1 percent and the slowest growth rate since the Great Recession of 2009. This slowdown is due to the economic headwinds still facing consumers – slowing disposable income growth, lower savings rate, higher debt, cost to service consumer debt, and the drying up of pandemic related savings buffers.
  • Competitive intensity is at an all-time high in this fourth year of economic uncertainty. Customers are re-evaluating retailer value propositions more than ever, ensuring those value propositions align with their needs. The average retailer ranking in a value proposition changed by six spots, higher than any previous year.
  • Savings through low base prices and highly personalized promotions and rewards remains the strongest driver of better long-term retailer performance, followed by maintaining high quality assortment. Market Basket (1), Winco (2), and Aldi (3) are the top three in the RPI’s “Price, Promotions, Rewards” pillar, due to the strongest combination of mass and personalized pricing levers. Wegman’s (1), Trader Joe’s (2), and The Fresh Market (3) are the top three in the “Quality” pillar. Wegman’s has held the top position in the “Quality” pillar every year of the RPI.
  • H-E-B topped the RPI ranking because they have the strongest customer value proposition for the long-term. This is due to their superior ability to deliver a combination of better savings and better experience/assortment, supported by time savings through superior digital capabilities.
  • Amazon has been in the top three every year of the RPI and has ranked first twice. They are doing this with a segmented approach, rather than building a customer value proposition that equally attracts different segments of the general population.
  • Two Kroger banners (Kroger and Fry’s) made it to the top quartile for the first time in the history of the RPI. The Kroger banners’ move into the first quartile can be explained by improvements they drove in overall price perception in 2023, a year when saving customers money mattered more than any year in this study, prior to 2022. Two other Kroger banners (Fred Meyer and King Soopers) were also among the biggest climbers in this year’s RPI ranking. These latter two sit in the second quartile, just outside of the first quartile.

The full dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index report can be downloaded.

Retailers included in the RPI that are interested in receiving their individual banner profiles can speak with their dunnhumby account executive, or contact dunnhumby at: https://www.dunnhumby.com/contact/. dunnhumby will also be attending and exhibiting at NRF 2024 in booth #1553.

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Save a Lot Donates 124K Bags of Pantry Staples for Holidays

With the help and generosity of its valued customers, Save A Lot, one of the largest discount grocery chains in the United States, has donated 124,000 bags of much-needed, high-quality food to local charities fighting hunger as part of its Bags for a Brighter Holiday effort. Throughout November and December, Save A Lot customers across the country supported their local communities by purchasing pre-assembled bags of food that were donated to local food charities and pantries.

To further amplify the program’s impact, Save A Lot is donating an additional $10,000 in gift cards to help 50 of the participating charities with groceries.

In total, the approximately $630,000 worth of food and gift cards will feed families in need. Each bag was stocked with private label and brand name food items, including pasta, stuffing mix, canned vegetables and other pantry staples from Save A Lot. A total of 528 Save A Lot stores participated in the food donation program with 22 stores selling more than 1,000 bags, including:

  • Scottsville, KY (1407 Galletin Rd.) – 3,591 bags
  • Tampa, FL (2271 E. Bearss Ave.) – 3,153 bags
  • Chillicothe, OH (1700 Western Ave.) – 2,660 bags
  • Tyrone, PA (111 W 13th St.) – 2,245 bags
  • Dyersburg, TN (1480 US Hwy 51 Bypass E) – 1,980 bags
  • Whitwell, TN (13205 Highway 28) – 1,913 bags
  • Hagerstown, MD (1161 Maryland Ave.) – 1,749 bags
  • Blairsville, GA (117 Murphy Hwy) – 1,535 bags
  • Sparta, TN (179 Mose Dr.) – 1,422 bags
  • Mt. Vernon, KY (910 W Main St) – 1,414
  • Hazard, KY (52 Grand Vue Plaza) – 1,330 bags
  • Cumberland, MD (66 Queen City Dr) – 1,245 bags
  • Morgantown, KY (723 W GL Smith St) – 1,213 bags
  • Pickens, SC (529 Hampton Ave Hwy B) – 1,171 bags
  • Lexington, TN (421 S Broad) – 1,166 bags
  • Lafollette, TN (2010 Jacksboro Pike) – 1,165 bags
  • Ontario, NY (1250 SR 104) – 1,118 bags
  • Denver, CO (4860 Pecos St) – 1,115 bags
  • Hardinsburg, KY (996 Old Hwy 60 East) – 1,045 bags
  • Williamsburg, KY (1645 S Hwy 25 W) – 1,044 bags
  • Lafayette, TN (415 HWY 52 Bypass East) – 1,026 bags
  • Jamestown, TN (407 North Main St.) – 1,015 bags

“I’m blown away each year by the generosity of our customers,” said Mark Kotcher, senior vice president of sales & marketing. “The passion for helping others in their communities put food on the table through our annual Bags for a Brighter Holiday program is a motivator for us throughout the year. Our stores’ ability to partner with customers and charities make this huge impact possible.”

Save A Lot stores, which are locally owned and operated, are passionate about making a difference. From supporting local charities to sponsoring in-store fundraisers, product drives and events for customers, locations are committed to doing A Lot of Good. For stories and examples on ways stores are giving back year-round, please visit SaveALot.com/ALotofGood.

For more information about Save A Lot or the Bags for a Brighter Holiday program, please visit www.savealot.com.

Founded in 1977, Save A Lot is the largest independently owned and operated discount grocery store chain in the U.S., with approximately 800 stores in 32 states. True to its mission of being a hometown grocer, Save A Lot provides unmatched quality and value to local families. Customers enjoy significant savings compared to traditional grocery stores on great tasting, high quality private label brands, national brand products, USDA-inspected meat, farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, and other non-food items. For more information on becoming a Save A Lot independent retail operator, visit ownasavealot.com.

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Fortune International Appoints Top Executives

Fortune International, LLC, the country’s leading processor, distributor and importer of quality seafood, meats and gourmet products, has appointed six senior executives to further strengthen and expand the company’s financial, operational and marketing capabilities.

Joel Jorgensen

Fortune named Joel Jorgensen as chief financial officer, Richard Deferia as chief revenue officer and Kevin Hoople as chief information officer, all reporting to President and CEO Sean O’Scannlain. The company also named Ethan Farber as vice president of marketing, Steven Gwozdz as vice president of frozen seafood and Trey Kidd as market vice president of Texas.

“We are very pleased to announce the addition of six exceptional new senior executives to our leadership, corporate and regional teams at the start of 2024,” O’Scannlain said. “We continue to attract the industry’s very best talent, which allows us to invest in and build stronger customer relationships, accelerate business momentum and drive growth into new markets. I look forward to supporting my new colleagues in their new responsibilities. This is an exciting way to start off the new year.”

Jorgensen will oversee overall financial and operational management at Fortune, as well as play a key leadership role in strategic business planning, M&A execution and integration. He brings over 15 years of financial executive experience in food distribution and packaging to Fortune.

Previously, Jorgensen was chief financial officer at B2B Industrial Packaging, LLC in Addison, Ill., where he led and supported the acquisition of 16 companies and built out the company’s leadership, treasury and HR functions. Before that, he was CFO at Harvest Sherwood Food Distributors in Detroit. He received his B.A. in Accounting from the University of Northern Iowa.

Richard Deferia

Deferia will lead and support the continued national expansion of the Fortune Fish & Gourmet distribution business. He has over 15 years of experience in the food and restaurant industries, starting his career as a chef before transitioning into sales and marketing. Before Fortune, Deferia spent 13 years at Sysco, starting his career as a marketing associate before working up to Regional vice president of sales mideast region.

Prior, he was an executive chef at Dockside Jack’s and JB’s Wharf in Michigan. Deferia received a degree of culinary arts from the French Culinary Institute and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Notre Dame.

Kevin Hoople

Hoople will be responsible for overseeing Fortune’s IT, information security teams and strategy, with an initial focus on data collection infrastructure. He has been an IT executive in the food and distribution industries for over 20 years.

Prior to Fortune, he spent 14 years at Lawson Products, starting as a director of ERP integration & deployment and rising eventually to chief information officer. Before Lawson, Hoople spent 10 years at Reyes Holdings L.L.C. and Martin-Brower L.L.C. He received his B.A. in management computer systems from the University of Wisconsin.

Farber brings nearly 20 years of experience in brand and creative strategy, strategic planning and business insights to the company. Prior to joining Fortune, he was Senior vice president and partner in creative planning at FleishmanHillard in Chicago. Before that, he was executive vice president and U.S. head of planning at BCW Global, formerly Burson-Marsteller, for nearly six years. He is an alumnus of Bowdoin College.

Experienced in front-line retail operations, Gwozdz is a senior food industry leader with expertise across fresh commodities and other categories. Before joining Fortune, he was a category manager III of Seafood Merchandising at Stop and Shop Supermarkets. Gwozdz also spent three years as category manager III of meat merchandising at Giant Food Stores and, before that, as a manager of meat merchandising at Price Chopper/Market 32. He is an alumnus of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.

Based in the Greater Houston area, Kidd is a proven sales and operations leader with over 20 years of experience in the food and beverage industry. Before joining Fortune to oversee Texas operations, he was general manager for three years at BakeMark, a manufacturer and distributor of bakery ingredients. Prior to that, he spent nearly 22 years at Sysco, rising from a marketing associate to vice president of field sales for the Southern Market. He received his B.S. in agriculture from Texas A&M University.

Fortune International, LLC, is the parent operating company of Fortune Fish & Gourmet, a full-service processor and distributor providing white-tablecloth restaurants, private clubs, elegant hotels and gourmet retail stores with the finest quality fresh, live and frozen seafood and gourmet foods. The company handles more than 18,000 unique products daily and delivers to more than 35,000 customer locations throughout the United States with a fleet of refrigerated vehicles, and nationally through FedEx and common carriers. For more information, visit www.fortunefishco.net.

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