Today, supermarket retailers are able to interact with shoppers – via emails, tweets, text messages and shopping apps – before they’ve even left the house.

So with all these digital tools at their disposal, how well are they doing?

Not so well, according to “Supermarket Showdown,” a new research initiative by WD Partners (Columbus, Ohio). The study was designed to measure customers’ overall satisfaction with 14 major grocery chains.

The respondents told WD they think digital services can help them save money (92.2 percent); save time (80.1 percent); better locate a product in the store (65.5 percent); discover new and different foods (59.2 percent); and make more nutritious food choices (55.5 percent).

And yet, 58 percent of all the respondents say they have “unmet digital needs” at the store level.

The survey rates Whole Foods as the best of the 14 retailers at delivering digital services. However, says the study,
“today, virtually none of the leading groceries is meeting these needs.”

“Either grocers are not offering digital solutions, like mobile apps that offer nutritional information and recipes, or they’re not communicating them to shoppers properly,” says WD’s executive vp Lee Peterson. “It seems that a comprehensive digital strategy that effectively communicates value beyond a couple of coupons at checkout is what is missing.”

For VMSD's special report on the grocery sector, click here.