Grocers Prominent among STORES' Top 100 Retailers

WASHINGTON -- The most successful retailers are constantly reinventing themselves to stay one step ahead of the competition -- and several grocers are among them, according to the STORES Top 100 Retailers ranking, sponsored by SAP and featured in STORES Magazine's July issue. (STORES is the official magazine of the National Retail Federation, based in Washington, D.C.)

The report, which is an annual snapshot of the retail industry, ranks companies by revenue and groups them on one chart regardless of the segment or segments in which they operate.

Topping the list is Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, followed by Atlanta-based Home Depot and Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco, another retailer that sells its share of food, came in at No. 4.

Other food retailers that made the top 30 of the list include Pleasanton, Calif.-based Safeway (10); Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Supervalu retail (12); Chantilly, Va.-based Ahold USA (14); Lakeland, Fla.-based Publix (15); Salisbury, N.C.-based Delhaize America (21); Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Meijer (27); and San Antonio-based H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (28).

"It's not enough anymore for retailers to carry the same merchandise as their competition," said Susan Reda, executive editor of STORES. "From their own brand of food to an exclusive line of tools, today's retailers will get ahead by differentiating their merchandise and offering products that consumers cannot find anywhere else."

In its section on "supermarket power players," STORES noted that traditional supermarkets operators have been "trimming dead wood from their operations and looking to merge with formal rivals." The article cited the planned mergers between Whole Foods and Wild Oats, and A&P and Pathmark Stores.

Launched in 2005 by the market research firm specializing in mystery shopping and customer satisfaction surveys, RealPeopleRatings.com sends the quarterly surveys as online opinion polls to its pool of panelists. Some 3,070 panelists participated in this quarter's survey.

Respondents were asked to rate their perception of each business's customer
service on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest rating. If a respondent did not have experience with the business, the panelist did not enter a score for that establishment.

For a complete list of scores and rankings, contact 614-224-8114, or [email protected].
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