Newsweek names America's Best Loyalty Programs in grocery
With inflation hitting key categories, retailers are looking to help customers save in other ways, including loyalty programs where customers can earn points on own brand products.
First reported in Store Brands' sister publication Progressive Grocer, Newsweek has released its list of America's Best Loyalty Programs 2022. The list features 20 retail banners with the best loyalty programs, graded by factors of each program. Kroger came away from the report with five of its banner stores on the list.
Last year, Newsweek and BrandSpark released its Most Trusted Awards, with Walmart, H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Kroger and Publix all receiving praise for their private label selections.
"By one estimate, the average U.S. household is enrolled in 18 different loyalty programs," said Nancy Cooper, global editor-in-chief of Newsweek. "The challenge for companies is not getting customers to sign up, but motivating them to become truly engaged program users; research shows that consumers only actively use half of the plans they're enrolled in. The challenge for consumers is to decide which of the crowd of programs vying for their attention are worthwhile. For brands, it's a potentially huge payoff, since it's far more expensive to get new customers than to keep existing ones, and loyalty program members tend to spend far more than nonmembers."
In order of their respective ranking, the banners recognized by Newsweek for the best loyalty programs in the category of food, health and beauty include:
- Smith's (Kroger), Smith’s Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- Sprouts, Sprouts app
- Mariano's (Kroger), Mariano's Rewards World Mastercard
- Publix, Club Publix
- ShopRite (Wakefern), Price Plus Club
- Fred Meyer (Kroger), Fred Meyer Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- Price Chopper, AdvantEdge
- Winn-Dixie (Southeastern Grocers), Winn-Dixie Rewards
- Fry's Food Stores (Kroger), Fry's Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- Giant, Giant Flexible Rewards
- Ralphs (Kroger), Ralphs Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- Food City, Valu Card
- Kroger, Kroger Rewards World Elite Mastercard
- Pick 'n Save, Fuel Points
- Piggly Wiggly, Piggy Wiggly Rewards
- Tops, Tops GasPoints
- Stop & Shop, Go Rewards
- Ingles, The Ingles Advantage Card
- Weis Markets, Weis Rewards Points
- Albertsons, for U