The Retailer Preference Index (RPI)
Navigating the Future
A retailer’s RPI rank is:
a measure of how well a retailer’s customer value proposition is positioned for future, long-term market success.
The Retailer Preference Index Approach
Phase 1: Measure retailer performance on customer perceptions
To answer the question, who’s winning and why in the Canadian 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 identity retailer performance on the different dimensions of the grocery value proposition.
We collected these perceptions during a survey of 6,000 Canadian grocery shoppers, during the months of June through October of 2025. Each person rated up to three retailers they currently shop. Included in this report are results on the 28 largest retailers of food and consumables, within the formats of:
- Supermarkets and neighborhood stores
- Superstores and hypermarkets
- Club and Cash & Carry
- Food discounters
- The retailers included in this study compose 97% of the Canadian market share, within these formats.
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 identity 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 customer, current assortment
- Size: ability to appeal to a lot of customers
- Growth: 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.
What drives sustainable success in Canada?
The results of our model tell us that retailers who are better positioned on Price, Promo and Rewards are more likely to be better positioned for long-term success. Saving customers money is a critical pillar for a successful Customer Value Proposition in the Canadian market.
In fact, this trend was already true a year ago and is even more important in 2025. The Price, Promo & Rewards pillar trended up in importance and now accounts for almost half the impact on retailer outcomes.
Quality and Speed & Convenience are the second and third most associated pillars with long-term success, but their decline in 2025 indicates that Canadians are trading-off benefits for better savings in their grocery purchases.
Phase 3: Calculate each retailer’s RPI score and rank
In our 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 Canadian market, in light of their customer value proposition:
3. Multiply importance of customer perceptions in driving better market results with retailer performance on those same perceptions, to arrive at 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