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Whole Foods saw customer satisfaction increase in the past year, according to a new survey.
We’ve been hearing a lot of potentially positive news about the economy lately, and that may be trickling down to the grocery store level.
A new survey finds that even though food prices are going up, Americans are more satisfied than they were a year ago with upscale grocer Whole Foods and less satisfied with discount giant Wal-Mart.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index, an ongoing study of people’s shopping preferences, said Whole Foods’ customer satisfaction rose slightly in the past year, continuing an upward trend. It’s the nation's second most beloved major grocery, after Publix.
Wal-Mart, on other hand, saw customer satisfaction fall. It’s the least popular of the major grocers in the survey.
David VanAmburg, managing director of the ACSI, said that in general people tend to favor quality over price – except when we experience a downturn as we did with the Great Recession.
“When the economy tanks, people are thinking more about, ‘How can I stretch my dollar as much as possible?’” VanAmburg said.
As the tepid recovery has picked up steam, shoppers appear to be starting to look again at factors such as store cleanliness, checkout lines and quality of produce, VanAmburg said.
“Things have improved enough that customers are looking more for quality. They’re looking for that combination of good quality and good price,” VanAmburg said.
Consumer prices jumped in January, thanks in part to high gas prices, and food prices were up slightly. But the nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent last month, one of a growing number of signs that brighter days are coming.
A separate poll from Pew Research Center found that people are more optimistic about the economy than they were even two months ago.
In periods such as this, when the economy is showing improvement and prices are rising, upscale chains like Whole Foods have more tools available, VanAmburg said.
The store, which some call “Whole Paycheck” for its high prices, can offer promotional deals or tout its private label 365 Everyday Value line, which may make people feel better about shopping there. That can build on what people already think of as a positive shopping experience, he said.
Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is largely known for being low-cost, and that can make it harder for the chain to find other ways to attract customers when food prices are rising, VanAmberg said.
Wal-Mart has said it is making a major effort to keep costs down. In its most recent earnings call in November, the company acknowledged that rising food prices are an issue for its core customers and that it was trying to absorb some price increases.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Spencer said she couldn’t comment specifically on the ACSI study because she hadn’t seen it. But she said the company works hard to please customers with such efforts as helping people choose healthy foods and sourcing more food locally.
“We survey more than half a million customers every month, and they are telling us they are pleased with their shopping experience at our stores and clubs. We continue to work to meet and succeed our customers' expectations by offering them low prices on fresh and packaged food,” she said in an email.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index is based on interviews with about 70,000 customers annually, gauging opinions on several different industries.
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beware of the cashiers at walmart__they will not put all of your items in the bag,or they will not spin your bag around so you can put it in your cart__this has been going on for a while,and it's ridiculous
Not sure what you're talking about. They move the carosel to fill all the bags and move it around to the first bag again for you to grab the bags. I have never been shorted from them not bagging items. If anything I get more annoyed when they lump too many different items (such as foods with soaps) in the same bags.
Yep, whenever I go, I tend to end up bagging my own items, not just because they put chicken in the same bag as the bleach, but because I had to return several times to pick up items that remained on top of the carousel or by the register, because the cashier forgot to pack them. The lines are so big and I am so tired of waiting anyway, that it's usually faster if I pack my own stuff, and I get less attitude from the cashiers.
Publix has much better customer service, and actual bag boys that help pack (and tend to be more competent than the Wal-Mart cashiers). A lot of the times, things are cheaper at Publix than at Wal-Mart, believe it or not, and you can also buy organic items here if you'd like (and much cheaper than Whole Foods). Winn Dixie has improved a lot in its products, but Publix is much closer to me and the customer service is much better. Winn Dixie tends to never have many employees around... For me, Publix is the best choice in many ways, and much more affordable than Whole Foods. I can see why they are top on the list.
guess what, in canada, we bag our own groceries, and we don't get plastic bags either. you americans are a joke.
clebro....................I NEVER use plastic bags....so much for that. I have been grocery shopping in Canada. Not all stores allow you to bag your own groceries.
And last, but not least.................your prices are no better than those here in the States.
So tell me............why are we a joke???????
In Europe we bag our own groceries as well... but it is nothing to brag about. I find it frustrating to try to get everything into a bag while also trying to pay and getting dirty looks from people in line behind me, and that is with just one or two bags full of stuff. It would be a nightmare with a whole grocery cart.
I miss Publix... The stores are always so clean, the cashiers smile at you, there are people to help you get your groceries to the car, there is sushi and fresh produce... I could go on and on. I absolutely do not miss Wal-Mart... going in there is like punishment.
Everyone should thank God that Walmart got into the grocery business. Because of their low prices, I have seen other grocery stores adjust their prices accordingly. I don't buy produce at Walmart if it seems the quality is bad, but, for the most part, it is decent quality at a much lower price. I would like to see Walmart get into organic produce. They have the space to do so.
You need to beware of cashiers everywhere, not just Walmart. Other grocery stores, restaurants, bars, and hell, even banks.
Clebro:
Perhaps we Americans are a joke, but I still love my country - and also use canvas bags. I do like having the option of plastic bags for protection against leaky meat pouches, 1/2 and 1/2 cartons, etc.
....And I do like having options, along with the bill of rights, being able to at least see my premier (President to us, Prime Minister to you) on my ballot, checks and balances, et cetera, et cetera...
Tell me: Is Justin Beiber the reincarnation of the Right Honourable John Diefenbacker? Both are haters of the U.S. and both are butt ugly. - Just curious..
Nice to see Canada has trolls like you as well, mate.
Cheers.
Go Gunners. (that's Arsenal F.C., if you didn't know)
The difference is that in Canada and Europe the stores are set up so it's easy for the customer to bag their own groceries. That's not the case at all at American big box stores.
As we continue to progress further into the 21st century, we must all realize that commercial agriculture is killing the planet. Slowly but certainly pesticides run off into streams and rivers and eventually into oceans. Just last Summer there was a 200 square mile dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico - caused by runoff by commercial farming!
So above and beyond the need for quality produce and foods is - ORGANIC! If we are truly serious about leaving the planet a better place for our grandchildren....we must embrace ORGANIC susbtainable, local farming.
Walmart has become the pits in customer service. The owners no longer care like Sam Walton of old. They keep cutting back on employees in our community. They do not train their employees or seek to make them knowledgeable about their products in wherever department they have them work. And the employees, are associates as they like to call them, are often stretched thin and burned out. Walmart only cares about making money now, not satisfying their customers. And that is a prescription for disaster. Go Whole Foods!
Wal-Mart's goal this quarter: Get all the money and give none to the employees.
I like wholefoods but I will never go back to one of their stores that had digital price labels on the shelves. It was nearly impossible to read prices unless I was directly in front of them and and at eye level. It was impossible to shop by price.
That's no accident.
Whole Foods took over a chain in Atlanta called Harry's Farmers Market. Since they did, the prices increased substantially. The only thing they are competitive on is Milk. They live up to their nickname "Whole Paycheck". :-)
Recently discovered another advantage to going to Whole Foods in Lincoln Park in Chicago. In addition to good service, great selection, fresh seafood, etc. the parking lot is like going to an auto show. Other than an auto show where can you find so many high end imports in one place.
.....And, oneiron, don't forget getting gouged with ridiculous prices for stuff that you can buy elsewhere for much less!
Check Whole Foods' website for monthly specials. Buy by the case and save 10 percent.
It's gettin' real in the Whole Foods parking lot
Lower cost and lower quality is their trade mark.
Many of you may forget when Sam was in charge it was "Made in America". Well this is not the case any longer.
Check where the food is coming from before you buy it. It is sometimes too late if you reading the box while you are eating it and find out your fish came from Asia (parts unknown).
If you have children this is even more important. How much of this stuff is tested (on animals, no less people)?
When there is a recall it is usually from Walmart!
Yeah, Walmart imports a lot of food from Asia...especially fresh produce. I hear that they pick it and throw it right on the plane to ensure freshness. I especially love those North Korean water melons!
I wouldn't mind shopping at Wal Mart except for all the riff raff that generally shops there, at least here in Austin, TX so I generally avoid it like the plague!
Shop late at night and you avoid the riff raff and also get through the store faster. I shop late at night at all grocery stores. :-)
I'm more concerned at how badly my friends are treated as employees of Walmart.
We live in a small town, and walmart just sized up to a super store. Now my friends and all their coworkers have been put on part-time status, and may be losing all of their health care coverage. We'll all be voting for Obama in the fall because of this - people have a right to health insurance. If Walmart wants to be a welfare corporation, they should have to pay. Too many of their employees are part-time, minimum wage people who have no health care, and no hopes of ever making more than what they do. It's pathetic!
So I boycott them because of that, and because by my supporting the small, locally owned grocer in town, I'm helping to keep them in business and fight a super giant at the same time.
As I told the store manager at our local QFC (upscale Kroger). You're nothing but a 7-Eleven on steroids. Rediculous pricing.
klondiko, stating your dissatisfaction to a store manager about things that they have no control over renders your complaint dead and usless. The store manager has very little control over anything. All matters at a retail chain like Krogers are set and determined at corporate level. The store manager is only there to implement the dictates of the corporate body, and to absorb and buffer customer interactions and altercations.
A store manager has to be able to take the dissatisfaction of irate customers, smile back at them, apologize even if they are not wrong , and offer a coupon for a discount. I worked retail for many years and it has never ceased to amaze me that customers seemed to think that the store employees really had any power over much of anything. These are retail employees, not proprietors of business. This is not Mom and Pop that you are dealing with.
Customers that rail about such things get joked about back in the breakroom.
I always advise not to yell at insignificant people. If you think that this grocery store is about as desirable as a 7=11, don't yell at the manager. They did not create this store and have very little say about how it is run.
I shop at Wal-Mart for some items, but my meats and produce I get locally if possible.
Wal-Mart turned me off when they cut out the butcher and started selling pre-packaged meats.
I first noticed this long ago when I asked a salesperson why all the cellophane wrappers on
the meats always seemed bloated.
He told me that it's because they add a gas to the packages and color (read the label).
I told him that to me is was a sign that the meat was going bad and PRODUCING gas.
Plus, the meats that are pre-wrapped are cut so badly that Freddy Kruger must work there.
In some stores they have added a small section with "quality cuts" which look a little
better but cost a third more.
As for the vegetables, I can get much riper and better produce from my local flea market or farmers market.
This is so true. Their meat prices are higher than ever. Even the lowest-priced ground beef isn't worth buying because it's got ALOT of fat...more so than before, so it seems. There's a local chain in my neck of the woods that offers a special for meat - 5 packages for $20. The quality is better too.
I'll shop at Wal-Mart for packaged foods (cereal, mac and cheese, etc) but for meat and produce I shop at Ray's (a local supermarket). Wal-Mart's prices are a little better, but I don't like their meat selection and it doesn't matter that their produce is cheaper when it ends up spoiling twice as fast.
Every time I have been to a Whole Foods, I've been met with employees that will go out of their way to try and help me. Most every time I've been to Wal-Mart, I've been met by a grumpy old greeter and a bunch of cashiers that obviously hate their jobs. It's not rocket science.
If you got treated like Wal-Mart employees do, you would not be happy either.
Oh, I agree, Viewer... They're treated like animals there... I worked at a Whole Foods for a while (which might steer my bias, as well), but the company really does re-invest in its workers whenever it can. It makes for a happy place (most of the time) :)
You'll always get exactly what you pay for when it comes to food.
and yet wal mart crushes whole foods in sales.
Look at this link.
http://onlygrassfed.com/why-grass-fed/key-concepts/frozen-not-gas-packed.html
Walmart's prices have been going up for quite awhile. Unfortunately for those of us who live in Oswego County, NY, which is predominantly rural, Walmart is probably one of the lowest-priced places around. Even so, everything is costing more. There are things I used to purchase at Walmart in the grocery dept. that I can no longer afford. As for women's clothing, the selection there is getting worse too, right along with the prices. When I have a way to get there, I'll go to Wegmans instead and stock up on things that are too high at Wally World.
I just love how the liberal media and the current Administration in the White House are trying to make it look like the economy is getting better. It is not. Gas prices are climbing once again and they could reach $5 per gallon. The bread line at a local church has been getting longer. More seniors are taking part in it than ever. What does that say about how hard times are?
If war breaks out between Israel and Iran, watch gas go up even further. Big oil companies will use any excuse possible to raise their prices. The U.S. gets most of its gas from Canada, but that doesn't matter to our politicians in D.C. How about price controls?
When gas goes up, so does everything else. You think that prices are bad now? Just wait until war breaks out and the government won't do a thing about reigning in the greedy oil companies. Only in the U.S. of A.
Do you think that the republicans will do anything to rein in the oil companies? Just last year, republicans in the House of Representatives voted down a democratic proposal to end subsidies to oil companies. The economy is bad due to a number of factors, but the emphasis on cutting federal spending isn't helping. Even Mitt Romney agrees that further spending cuts will hurt economic growth.
In any case, you sound like a very confused democrat. I'm not trying to sound mean, but you may want to do a bit of reading up on each of the parties' platforms (with an open mind).
I never set foot in Wal Mart. Their produce is pitiful, most of their stores are dirty, there is no one anywhere within screaming distance to help you find something, their meat is sub-standard.
I was there once on a trip when nothing else was around. It was absolutely pathetic, in every sense.
Walmart spokesperson Sara Spencer is full of BS. Watch "The People of Walmart," and then consider Spencer's comments. If their consumer education programs are helping customers, the evidence is not there. All Walmart cares about is the bottom line. Customer satisfaction is a foreign concept to Walmart. Sam is surely turning over in his grave. A company that doesn't even care about its employees certainly cannot care about the customers.
The survey is not surprising. Nobody shops at Walmart by choice. If you're out of a job or low income you shop there because you must.