Kroger cracks customer experience top 50 but topped by key competitor

Kroger has cracked the top 50 retail brands nationwide in a new report on customer experience. However, the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain is lagging behind a key competitor that's setting up shop right in Kroger's backyard. The Top 100 Experience Report for 2026 by ChangeUp, a brand strategy an

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What is the story about?

Kroger has cracked the top 50 retail brands nationwide in a new report on customer experience.

However, the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain is lagging behind a key competitor that's setting up shop right in Kroger's backyard.

The Top 100 Experience Report for 2026 by ChangeUp, a brand strategy and retail design agency, puts Kroger at No. 37 among retailers. However, Kroger is one of four retail brands highlighted by ChangeUp for moving up "significantly" in the report. Kroger wasn't in the top 50 in 2025.

But Publix, which is opening supermarkets in Northern Kentucky in October, came in at No. 10 on the 2026 report, up from No. 24 last year.

Kroger located in the 500 block of 16th Street in Indianapolis, Ind. is seen on Monday, May 16, 2022.

How was the ChangeUp Top 100 Experience Report created?

This year was the second year for the experience

report, which ChangeUp calls "a barometer of how well brands are meeting rising expectations." The agency expanded the survey this year from 200 to 300-plus brands, gathering more than 400,000 data points from over 6,500 customers.

Each experience was measured on eight factors to determine how a place makes people feel, rather than what's on the shelf. Those factors include the desire to visit without a specific need, how memorable it was, whether customers would miss a brand if it disappeared, and how well a brand meets practical needs, among others.

ChangeUp found a shift this year, with customers still willing to spend on experience but becoming more selective about what earns a trip amid higher prices and unpredictable tariffs.