Winners by Pillar
Price, Promo, Rewards
Quality
Digital
Speed and Convenience
Operations
Price, Promo, Rewards
Market Basket, Aldi and Winco occupy the top 3 in the Price, Promo, Rewards pillar overall.
Aldi remains the leader in base price perception, while Market Basket are also strong in this area (4th overall) but also tend to score well in other elements of savings, like promotions, private brand savings and advertisement.
Smith’s now leads on loyalty program savings, taking the lead from Kroger.
Top 3 in Select Levers within Pillar
Base Price “Already has low prices, without coupons or special sale”
Loyalty, Rewards “Has a loyalty program that saves me money”
Promotions “Has discounts/ sales that are big enough to make a difference”
Private Brand “Private brand saves me money”
Quality
Wegmans, Whole Foods and Sprouts are the top 3 in the Quality pillar. The pillar remains diverse, and each attribute has a distinct recognized leader that outpaces competitors.
Wegmans is the market leader on overall product quality, while Whole Foods shines in ambience and healthy assortment.
Trader Joe’s leads on private brand quality while Costco and Big Y wraps up the pillar by running ahead on local product variety.
Top 3 in Select Levers within Pillar
Product “Offers highest quality products”
Customer Service “Staff makes me feel valued”
Private Brand “Private/ store brands high quality”
Ambiance “Look/feel is up-scale/ high end”
Health “Help me make healthier choices”
Local “Wide variety of local products”
Digital
Unsurprisingly, the big players dominate the digital retail field.
Amazon (and Amazon Fresh) is the undisputed leader on Digital, taking the 1st Place overall and also leading every attribute individually.
Target, Sam’s Club and Walmart banners trail closely and occupy the following spots of the rank.
Notably, H-E-B (which also shows up on the Price, Promo, Rewards pillar) shows up in the 7th spot and even manages to snag a 3rd place on individual attributes, expanding upon their already very strong Value Core Proposition.
Top 3 in Select Levers within Pillar
Online shopping “Has easy ways to shop online”
App “Phone app makes shopping easier”
Tech “Use technology to make experiencers better”
Speed and Convenience
Fareway, IGA and Publix win in Speed and Convenience.
Amazon is tops in checkout speed, but its lack of locations leaves it out of the top quartile for the pillar overall.
Independent banners IGA and Piggly Wiggly are continuing to perform well in the pillar this year, which helps to bump their overall position on the RPI score although given the increased importance of the Value Core in 2025, small & regional supermarket chains tend to struggle against the national leaders in providing the right balance of Price, Promo, Rewards and Quality.
Top 3 in Select Levers within Pillar
Speed to shop “Easy to get in and out quickly”
Location “Has convenient locations”
Check out “Check out is fast and easy”
Operations
Costco tops the Operation pillar, which is mostly dominated by Mass/Club formats.
Woodmans, a newcomer to the RPI, debuts with a 2nd spot in Operations, outpacing the usual leaders such as BJ’s and Sam’s Club. It is mostly recognized by not running out of products, taking the 1st place nationally on this critical attribute.
We also see Market Basket securing a 5th place overall thanks to its strength in price consistency, which ties directly to their performance in Price, Promo, Rewards. Similarly, Publix leads on store cleanliness – a reflection of their strong position in Quality.
Top 3 in Select Levers within Pillar
In stock “Doesn't run out of the items I buy regularly"
Store cleanliness “Store in clean and well-maintained"
Price Consistency “Doesn't change prices too often"
