This Is the Best Value Grocery Store in America

With inflation running high at the grocery store these days, it’s no wonder that shoppers would be on the lookout for the best bang for their buck when shopping for their weekly food haul.

Thankfully, a new nationwide survey that measured shoppers’ perceptions of value was just released, giving us some clues as to which grocery stores offer the best value for shoppers.

What is the best value grocery store in America?

H-E-B took the top spot as America’s best value grocery store, based on the annual dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index. The regional grocer based in San Antonio, Texas closely beat out Costco and Amazon, which finished second and third respectively.

How was the survey conducted?

The RPI study examined the $1 trillion U.S. grocery market, which has changed dramatically since the pandemic. It looked at 63 of the nation’s largest grocers based on both financial results and customer perception. Customer perception data was sourced from dunnhumby’s annual survey of 10,000 American grocery shoppers that was conducted in late 2022. The study is based on what dunnhumby calls “the five drivers of the value proposition”:

1. Price, promotions and rewards
2. Speed and convenience
3. Quality
4. Digital
5. Operations

Post pandemic, more shoppers say that “price” is the most important factor in their shopping decisions. Aldi remains the top retailer based solely on price.

The top 10 best value grocery stores

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1. H-E-B
2. Costco
3. Amazon
4. Wegmans
5. Sam’s Club
6. Market Basket
7. Amazon Fresh
8. Trader Joes
9. Winco
10. BJ’s Wholesale

While many familiar names scored high in the study, some larger national brands such as Target (11), Aldi (12) and Walmart (15) all fell outside the top 10. BJ’s Wholesale had the biggest rise in RPI over the last three years, climbing from 27th place to 10th place in 2022, a 17-point jump in rankings.

Amazon is still tops in online grocery shopping, but other retailers are closing the gap. The top six retailers for digital are:

1. Amazon
2. Amazon Fresh
3. Target
4. Sam’s Club
5. Walmart
6. Walmart Neighborhood Market

With the exception of H-E-B, WinCo and Market Basket, regional supermarkets—such as those under the umbrella of Kroger, Albertsons-Safeway or Ahold—were shut out of the top 10.

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Sources:

• dunnhumby: Sixth Annual Retailer Preference Index (RPI) for U.S. Grocery