Why Advocacy Matters To Grocers: Surveyed Consumers Give Retailers Food For Thought

Food retailers typically struggle to differentiate themselves, especially when they rely on the standard levers of cheaper prices and geographic penetration. This paper reveals key insights into what actually drives customer advocacy, as well as what grocers can do to improve the level of advocacy among their customer populations. By concentrating on customer advocacy, grocers can create new ways to differentiate and can ultimately pursue customer-focused initiatives and investments with greater precision and success.

It could be said that the retail food industry and its customers have a lot to be optimistic about. Customers have more choices: more products, more ways to buy groceries and more convenience; and the industry has experienced solid, consistent growth over the past decade. Most of this growth, however, has come at the expense of traditional supermarkets as they watch their customers go to supercenters, wholesale clubs and specialty and boutique food stores. Worse, customers of traditional supermarkets, on average, have a negative attitude about their grocers. According to our new consumer survey about the retail food industry, 73% of customers feel either antagonistic or have no loyalty to their store. That leaves only one in four as a customer advocate - a truly loyal customer who would recommend his grocer to others, stick with the store despite competitive offers, and purchase from that store regularly.