ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 When it comes to where Americans prefer to shop for groceries, consumers have traded one top competitor for the other, according to one study. <\/p>\n
Trader Joe\u2019s is now No. 1 in customer satisfaction, bumping Publix to No. 2, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Retail and Consumer Shipping Study 2026 indicates. <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the retailer\u2019s continued national expansion efforts, which can often strain operations and jeopardize consistency, Trader Joe\u2019s manages to maintain its hallmark customer experience, reinforcing its strong brand loyalty even amid growth,\u201d the study says. <\/p>\n
Publix scored an 84, unchanged from last year. Meanwhile, Trader Joe\u2019s advanced 2% to an 86.<\/p>\n
When it comes to customer experience, shoppers are most concerned with how convenient store hours are, if it\u2019s easy to pick up an order and whether the mobile app is reliable, according to the study. <\/p>\n
Across several industries, the study notes that retailers are now dealing with a \u201cmore disciplined, value-focused shopper,\u201d particularly among Gen Z. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese individuals are starting holiday shopping earlier, avoiding last-minute splurges, and trading down to discount and thrift options to stretch every dollar,\u201d Forrest Morgeson, ACSI\u2019s director of research emeritus, said. \u201cTogether, these shifts are tightening the field between retail winners and laggards and rewarding brands that deliver clear value and a smooth experience online and in store.\u201d<\/p>\n
These are the top 10 grocery stores, according to the study: <\/p>\n
Trader Joe\u2019s PublixH-E-BSam\u2019s Club\/WalmartAldiCostcoWhole Foods\/AmazonShopRiteTargetAhold Delhaize (Owner of Food Lion, Giant Food, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Stop & Shop) <\/p>\n
Publix has about 220 Georgia locations. Meanwhile, Trader Joe\u2019s has about 10, all of which are concentrated in the metro Atlanta area. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WANF. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) \u2014 When it comes to where Americans prefer to shop for groceries, consumers have traded one top competitor for the other, according to one study. Trader Joe\u2019s is now No. 1 in customer satisfaction, bumping Publix to No. 2, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Retail and Consumer Shipping Study<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[23318,23319,23325,2966,23320,11547,11545,5867,433,18626,23321,11419,2963,2961,2959,2962,2960,16467,2973,2568,9656,23322,192,4429,23323,4675,23327,3119,23326,23317,11546,23324],"class_list":["post-42902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-georgia","tag-acsi","tag-acsi-retail-and-consumer-shipping-study-2026","tag-ahold-delhaize","tag-aldi","tag-american-customer-satisfaction-index","tag-anf","tag-atlanta-news-first","tag-costco","tag-economy","tag-food-lion","tag-forrest-morgeson","tag-gen-z","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-dining","tag-georgia-food","tag-georgia-grocery-stores","tag-georgia-restaurants","tag-giant-food","tag-grocery-shopping","tag-grocery-store","tag-hannaford","tag-heb","tag-news","tag-publix","tag-sams-club-walmart","tag-shoprite","tag-stop-and-shop","tag-target","tag-the-giant-company","tag-trade-joes","tag-wanf","tag-whole-foods-amazon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}