Costco’s slogan is “Do the right thing.” They must be doing the right thing in the right way because in 2023, they were highly rated by consumers as being an overall great shopping experience. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Costco has earned the top spot among America’s chain supermarkets. The ACSI rates businesses based on data taken from interviews conducted with customers throughout the year. This year, they interviewed approximately 500,000 customers, asking them to evaluate their experiences shopping in big supermarket chains. Kirkland 4Eva y’all!

When it comes to grocery shopping, everyone has their favorite supermarket chain, at least as far as customer satisfaction is concerned. Per the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, the supermarket chain in the top spot earned high marks for factors such as the ability to provide brand names, the layout and cleanliness of the store, and the courtesy and helpfulness of the staff.

According to the index, which measures customer satisfaction across six retail industries—gas stations, general merchandise retailers, specialty retailers, drugstores, supermarkets, and online retailers—the extent to which a shopper is (or isn’t) satisfied can greatly impact individual brands, as well as the American economy at large.

In other words, keeping customers satisfied is of the utmost importance.

“For industries like supermarkets and gas stations, moderating inflation is helping to improve the value proposition,” explained Forrest Morgeson, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. “And leading up to the holiday season, consumers looking to stretch their dollars responded positively to discounters and retailers that excelled in sales and promotions, or pumped more value into the experience through private label offerings.”

[From Real Simple]

I will freely admit that I am a Costco stan. Every Sunday, my family and I run our errands for the week and our first stop is always at Costco. Even if we don’t really need much from there, we like walking around together, checking out what’s new. I actually buy a lot of my clothes from Costco because they have good prices and are really comfortable. Their leggings, CK jeans, and pajamas are my favorites. Also, in my area, literally no one beats their gas prices. As for the rest of the ACSI’s top 10, they are:

1. Costco
2. H-E-B
3. Publix
4. Trader Joe’s
5. Sam’s Club (Walmart)
6. BJ’s Wholesale Club
7. Target
8. Wegmans
9. Whole Foods (Amazon)
10. Aldi

I’ve never been to Aldi but I keep hearing it’s a great store. Wegmans is actually our second stop after Costco. It is still relatively new to my area, but let me tell you, it is just as awesome as everyone says it is. I know that we all want different things out of our shopping experiences, but I think when it comes down to it, we as consumers just want to visit a store that has good vibes and layout, reasonably priced products that we love, and is an overall positive experience. In other words, we just want the places we shop at to ‘do the right thing.’