COVER STORY
the company said are “resonating well with members.” It is also seeing growth in same-day delivery through its third-party delivery partners. 5. Amazon Fresh Amazon is determined to capture a bigger share of the U.S. grocery market with its Amazon Fresh ecommerce offering, even though its latest strategy involves the elimination of physical stores under that banner. The company announced in January that it planned to close all its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go brick-and-mortar locations—some of which will be converted to Amazon’s Whole Foods Market banner— and focus instead on same-day delivery from its fulfillment centers and Whole Foods stores. Amazon said it will focus on same-day grocery delivery, which launched last year and is now available in more than 2,300 cities and towns across the country. It also recently launched a limited test of ultra-fast delivery—in 30 minutes or less. “The ability for shoppers to add fast-turn- ing perishable items such as milk and eggs to their orders for other everyday items is very compelling,” said Andrew Jassy, president and CEO of Amazon, in a recent conference call with analysts. The dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index found that Amazon Fresh was the leader in all three ecommerce areas mea- sured: providing an easy way to shop online, offering technology that makes the experience better and having a mobile app that makes shopping easier. Amazon also continues to experiment with other physical retail formats, including in conjunction with Whole Foods locations in the Chicago and Philadelphia markets. It is also planning a 230,000-square-foot supercenter near Chicago. 6. Sam’s Club Sam’s Club currently seems to be firing on all cylinders, as it transitions to new lead- ership under Latriece Watkins, who was named president and CEO of the ware- house membership club retailers earlier this year. Parent company Walmart reported
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In this year’s Retailer Preference Index report from dunnhumby, H-E-B ranked first overall for the fifth time in the nine years since the report has been published.
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Costco also ranked No. 1 in the United States for building trust among stakeholders.
experience, in which it ranked first for both delivery and curbside pickup. It also ranked above the industry mean in the two other pillars of delivery—customization and the delivery experience, and it ranked above the mean in the curbside pickup experience as well. 4. Costco Wholesale Costco Wholesale Corp. continues to attract thousands of new members across the U.S. year after year with its unbeatable prices and focus on high-quality perishables. The Issaquah, Wash.-based membership club retailer topped a Consumer Reports survey this year for offering the best prices in the country for groceries, with a shop- ping list that totaled 21.4% cheaper than Walmart, and just ahead of rival ware- house operator BJ’s Wholesale Club, which was 21% less expensive than Walmart. Although the pricing list did not account
for the annual member fees, the savings were still significant. Nearly a third of Costco’s sales (32%) are private label, based on a Numerator analysis of private-label unit sales as a per- centage of the total. Costco also ranked No. 1 in the U.S. for building trust among stakeholders, accord- ing to report from Caliber, a company that focuses on helping companies build trust. “Costco’s rise to the top of the list likely reflects its commitment to putting its values into action and maintaining great customer experience in 2025, even as tariffs rocked the retail sector,” said Caliber CEO Shahar Silbershatz. The retailer is also making significant strides with its ecommerce efforts. In its recent second-quarter earnings call, Costco said website traffic was up 32%, and app traffic increased 45% as it rolled out new personalization capabilities that
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