The RPI Approach
How to Track the Strength of Retailer Customer Value Propositions
Phase 1: Measure retailer performance on customer perceptions
The rest of the information on this page details methodology, if you’re interested. If you’d like to skip ahead to the results in insights, go to the next page.
To answer the question, who’s winning and why in the U.S. grocery market, we follow a three-phase approach. The first phase is:
1. Measure customer perception of retailer performance, on 32 different levers, within 5 different pillars
The purpose of this first phase is to identify retailer performance on the different dimensions of the grocery value proposition.
We collected these perceptions during a survey of 11,000 U.S. grocery shoppers, during the months of April through October of 2025. Each person rated up to three retailers they currently shop at. Included in this report are results on the 81 largest retailers of food and consumables, within the formats of:
- Supermarkets and neighborhood stores
- Superstores and hypermarkets
- Club and Cash & Carry
- Food discounters
- Pureplay
Phase 2: Identify which perceptions matter more and which matter less
In the second phase, we model retailer customer perceptions on different pillars of the grocery value proposition against outcomes retailers would want to achieve in the market:
2. Model perception scores on the 5 pillars against financial and emotional connection outcomes
The purpose of this second phase is to identify the relative importance of the different dimensions of the grocery value proposition in driving sustainable, long-term results.
In our model, our outcome is a composite of measures of:
- Efficiency: getting the most out of current customers, current assortment
- Size: ability to appeal to a lot of customers
- Growth: the ability to grow current customer spend and reach new customers
- Emotional Connection: ability to do this with a value proposition customers truly love and trust
Retailers who can have a customer value proposition that is positioned to drive these outcomes are best positioned for long-term success.
Phase 3: Calculate each retailer’s RPI score and rank
In the final phase of our approach, we calculate each retailer’s RPI score. This gives us the ranking of how well-positioned each retailer is for long-term success in the U.S. market, in light of their customer value proposition:
3. Multiply the importance of customer perceptions in driving better market results with retailer performance on those same perceptions, to arrive at the retailer’s RPI score
The purpose of this last phase is to identify who is best-positioned to win over the long-term. Retailers can use this information to identify:
- Retailers to benchmark against
- Priorities for improving their value proposition
- Customer strategies to guide long-term planning
