Industry-first Grocery Value Study debuts at GroceryNEXT

Industry-first Grocery Value Study debuts at GroceryNEXT

Tue, August 25, 2026 at 9:06 PM GMT+3 2 min read

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Grocery value is not won in the weekly ad alone. It's won when the promise survives the shopping journey.

This insight came from Cameron Watt, president and CEO of Intouch Insight, and Sarah Beckett, vice president of sales and marketing at Intouch Insight.

Watt and Beckett were part of a general session giving the industry its first look at findings from the 2026 Grocery Value Study at Supermarket News and Informa Connect's GroceryNEXT event on Aug. 24 in Lombard, Ill.

The 2026 Grocery Value Study, conducted by Intouch Insight in partnership with Informa Connect and NexChapter, evaluated grocery retail performance across three value pillars: price, product and experience through 302 in-store mystery shops and 175 digital-curbside mystery shops spanning 15 and 13 chains respectively, in five U.S. hub markets (Texas, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast and Midwest), using standardized missions where shoppers purchased five core items and provided receipts, screenshots, photos and post-visit sentiment feedback as evidence.

The 2026 Grocery Value Study revealed an overall in-store execution score of 82.4%, with regional chains outperforming national chains at 84.3% compared with 79.6%.

Across key performance categories, price and savings led with the highest score at 95.7%, according to Intouch Insight data, followed closely by store environment at 95% and fresh quality at 86.6%.

Product availability emerged as the lowest-performing category at 72.2%, indicating a critical area for improvement across grocery retailers, according to the data.

When surveyed about which factors most shape their perception of good value, 65% of respondents (597 people) identified low everyday price as the primary driver, according to Intouch Insight data.

"What you pay and what you get is still part of value," said Watt.

When searching for a specific grocery product or checking details, Beckett said 43% of consumers (359 respondents) go directly to a retailer's site or app as their first source of information. As for letting an artificial intelligence assistant find and recommend grocery products, 6% reported they already do, Beckett said.

"I expect that number is going to change very rapidly," she said.

Closing the value gap in grocery retail requires making value easy for customers across several critical areas, Watt and Beckett reported.

They said shoppers must be able to find the deal and understand it without confusing fees or fine print. They also said the value must be accessible through in-stock products and activated offers—and the final total matching the promise.