The Empathica Consumer Insights Panel surveyed more than 16,000 North American consumers on how well grocery stores are delivering on customer service expectations today. Safeway and Wegmans Food Markets rank highest across all service elements.
Consumers from each region also revealed their primary grocery store of choice based on their overall customer experience. Those doing best overall included Wegmans in the U.S. and Safeway in Canada.
Wal-Mart ranked near the bottom of the list for operations, people and promotions among Canadians. In the U.S., Wal-Mart ranked among the lowest in those service areas, in addition to merchandise. A&P, C&S Wholesale Grocers and Unified Grocers also ranked among the lowest across all five service areas.
These conclusions were drawn by looking only at the most important customers for each brand, which are those who said they spend 50 percent or more of their money at that particular grocer. While Wegmans had the highest scores across all service elements for the U.S., Trader Joe’s, Publix Super Markets, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods Market also ranked high across four out of the five service areas, but falling short with promotions. The promotions category took into account loyalty programs, availability of coupons, as well as pricing, availability and frequency of promotions.
The top five grocers in the U.S. regions, based on overall customer experience are: Northeast: Wegmans, Delhaize America (Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar), Ahold USA (Giant/Carlisle, Giant/Landover, Stop & Shop), Wakefern Food Corp. (ShopRite) and Giant Eagle.
South: Harris Teeter, Publix Super Markets, Kroger Co., H.E. Butt Grocery Co. and Safeway.
Midwest: Giant Eagle, Meijer Inc., Kroger Co., Hy-Vee Food Stores and Aldi.
West: Kroger Co., Safeway, Supervalu, Costco Wholesale Corp., and WinCo Foods.
For the comprehensive customer experience ranking of the top 20 U.S. and Canadian retailers, contact Bruce Warren at [email protected] or 905-542-9001, ext. 242.
Children’s Miracle Network is excited to share that Giant/Carlisle and its leader Rick Herring will be honored during the 22nd annual Miracle Ball on November 19 at The Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA.
“Children’s Miracle Network at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital is thankful for Rick and his dedicated commitment to their mission to make life better for kids and their families for more than 22 years,” the organization said when announcing the honor. “His leadership in this event helped to raise more than $5,000.000 for Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital.”
Sammy Hill, the 2011 Giant champion, and her family, will present Rick with the 2011 Miracle Innovator award during the Miracle Ball.
This signature event benefits Children’s Miracle Network at Penn State Hershey. Children’s Hospital and will feature a theme of Thanks for Giving. For more information on this event, contact Allison Mason, Children’s Miracle Network, Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital, P.O. Box 855, Hershey, PA 17033-0855 or e-mail [email protected].
We were saddened to learn of the death last month of Helen Williams, mother of Nina Weiland, a long-time member of the Best-Met family. In addition to Nina and her husband John Weiland, Mrs. Williams is survived by her grandchildren, Jeffrey Weiland, Allison Weiland, Jennifer (Weiland) and Davide Mattucci, and great-grandchildren Alessia and Gianluca Mattucci.
Our sincere sympathies also go out to the family of Mitchell (Mitch) Cohen. Mitch, who was well known in the Mid-Atlantic food industry, passed away September 1. He was a long-time employee of the Reynolds Company and was active in the Baltimore
Grocery Manufacturers Representatives (GMR) organization as well as several other local grocery associations. He leaves his wife Ellen L. Cohen (nee Oseroff) and children Ryan M. Cohen and Michael S. Cohen. Contributions in his memory may be sent to the charity of your choice.
The Network of Executive Women (NEW) has awarded $20,000 in scholarships to seven college students pursuing careers in the consumer products and retail industry.
The Network, the industry’s largest diversity organization, will honor the scholarship awardees at the NEW Leadership Summit 2011, Sept. 19-20, in Orlando.
Scholarships for 2011 were awarded in June to graduate students Katie Childress, attending University of Colorado, Boulder, and Jennifer Stellmacher Rheault, of California State University, Long Beach. Undergraduates receiving scholarships were Trang Ayers of Portland State University in Portland, OR.; Katelyn Harvey and Colleen McDonnell of Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s University; Kari Lazarski of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI; and Tamera Pumphrey of Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.
Childress will graduate in 2012 from the University of Colorado, Leeds School of Business, with a master of business administration degree. Among her accomplishments is her promotion at age 25 to forecast manager at the North American Wholesale division of Patagonia, managing the inventory team for Canada, the United States and corporate sales. Childress said she is pursuing an MBA to advance her career, specifically in the apparel or organic food industry.
Rheault expects to graduate form California State Long Beach in 2012 with a master of business administration degree. She has served as a marketing professional at Valassis for the past 1l years, working with Nestle, Unilever, Kellogg Company, Johnson & Johnson and other CPG companies.
Ayers, a native of Vietnam and mother of six, is pursuing a degree in finance, with a minor in food industry management at Portland State University. She earned an undergraduate degree in information technology in Vietnam prior to moving to the United States in 2004.
Harvey, a food marketing major at St. Joseph’s University who expects to graduate in 2013, participated in a co-op program at Johnson & Johnson, Sales & Logistics Company in Skillman, N.J. last year. She will participate in a Neutrogena Cosmetics sales strategy co-op in New York City beginning in the fall.
Also a food marketing major at St. Joseph’s University, McDonnell spent last summer working as a management intern at Wegmans in Harrisburg, and will spend this summer as a Wegmans merchandising intern at the supermarket chain’s Rochester, NY headquarters. She expects to graduate next May.
Lazarski is majoring in food and CPG marketing and integrated supply management at Western Michigan University. The mother of a three-year old, Lazarski will graduate in 2012.
Pumphrey, who is majoring in accounting and business administration, expects to graduate in 2013 from Gonzaga University. While pursuing her education, she has worked her way up from courtesy clerk to supervisor at the Shadle Center Safeway in Spokane, WA.
The scholarship winners received a free one-year membership in the Network of Executive Women, the consumer product and retail industry’s largest diversity organization.
NEW has awarded $90,000 in scholarships since 2005. “NEW has not only aided me in financing my school but it has provided me with great networking opportunities,” noted Lashawndra Lawrence, a Tuskegee University graduate student who received a scholarship in 2010. “NEW has given me new insight regarding my role as a woman in the industry and shown me that it is possible for women to be successful.”
Our wishes for a speedy recovery are sent out to Children’s Cancer Foundation president and founder Shirley Howard, who we understand has been hospitalized. She was recently transferred to Baltimore’s Northwest Hospital Sub-Acute Rehabilitation from Sinai Hospital Acute Rehabilitation for physical therapy. We understand she is on the road to recovery and is doing well.
We received a very nice note last month from Ray Turek, a retiree who started in the food business working for Standard Brands in the Baltimore-Washington area in 1945. When Standard Brands began to breakup, he joined Consoladated Foods, which became Sara Lee. He retired from the business in 1985, after a 62 year food industry career.
He and his wife of 66 years Loretta make their home in Beltsville.
Following in his father’s footsteps, his eldest son, Ray Jr. has been with Giant/Landover for more than 32 years. And his grandson, during summers and vacations from college, works part-time for Giant. He tells us he still enjoys reading Food World every month.
Birthday wishes go out this month to: Policy Solution’s Barry Scher; Best-Met Publishing’s CFO, William Speakman; Andy Metzger, son of Best-Met’s Jeff and Audrie Metzger; Carl Jablonski; a friend of the food industry, retired; Paul Bell, Bell Sales; Shirley Howard (her 87th) Children’s Cancer Foundation; and Ron Fish, president of Reading Consumer Products.
Anniversary wishes to Safeway’s (retired) Roger and Phyllis Herding, their 44th; and Maryland Department of Transportation’s Richard and Caryn Scher, their 15th.
You too can have your birthday, anniversary or any special event date published in this column by e-mailing your name (s) and dates to [email protected].