2020 Local Brand Report: Reputation’s Role In The Grocery Industry

Our latest edition of the Local Brand Report: Reputation’s Role in the Grocery Industry originally took a look at how well grocery brands were prepared to keep up with industry changes and new competition. However, in recent weeks, the grocery industry has found itself on the frontlines of a global pandemic. Many grocery stores reacted to the pandemic in admirable ways, despite facing unprecedented new challenges and for that, we thank them.

The data in this report was collected prior to the U.S. outbreak of COVID-19. This report now serves as a benchmark of the industry, helping us monitor and support brands in their return to normalcy while our country recovers from crisis.

About The Local Brand Report

We analyzed 10 of America’s largest grocery brands in order to determine the strength of their online visibility and reputation. Using a sample size of 50 locations per brand, Chatmeter analyzed the local business listings, search rankings, and online reviews of each brand from January 1st, 2019 to December 31st, 2019. This analysis was done by leveraging tools like Chatmeter’s Local Brand Visibility Score™ (LBV) and our text and sentiment analysis tool, Pulse

Brands Analyzed:

• Albertsons
• Aldi
• Costco
• H-E-B
• Kroger
• Publix
• Target
• Trader Joe’s
• Walmart
• Whole Foods

Key Findings:

1. With an average listing accuracy of 92%, we found that grocery brands see the value in maintaining listing accuracy across all their locations.
2. 9 out of 10 brands in this report are not actively responding to reviews, leaving customer feedback going unnoticed.
3. Despite an average star rating of 4.3, no brand in this report is a true industry leader — leaving room for any brand to take the lead.

Local Brand Visibility

The average LBV Score for grocery brands is 64. This is considered good, falling just 6-points below what would be considered a leader.

The lowest category among all brands is the rankings category. A low score in the rankings category usually suggests the brands are not optimizing for their top unbranded keywords. The second-lowest category for LBV Score is the reviews category. The top-performing categories for the grocery industry are the listings and competitors category.

Recommendations for The Grocery Industry

How to return to normalcy and stay ahead of the competition.

1. Leverage Local SEO to Outrank The Competition
2. Look to Reviews and Google Q&A to Guide Customer Experience Enhancements
3. Optimize for Voice Search