This article is brought to you by dunnhumby.

There are a few questions that a retailer should look to answer, according to global data science company dunnhumby, including: What do consumers want? Why do they prefer certain retailers over others? What should my store focus on to draw customers in?

Answers to these questions can come from a retailer preference index (RPI), noted Erich Kahner, senior director of strategy and insights, Americas, dunnhumby. “Retailer preference index studies answer two big questions for the industry. First, they answer generally which retailers are best positioned to drive strong results in the long term. Secondly, these studies dive into why these retailers are positioned for success, which offers insights to all retailers on what consumers want.”

An RPI study “can help retailers set a framework for thinking about how to drive long-term results. It can foster a discussion for the industry on how to be a best-in-class performer,” Kahner said.

“Our convenience RPI, set to be published October 8, will help individual retailers but also the industry as a whole,” Kahner said.

“What dunnhumby’s RPI study does is holistically look at financial results, emotional connections with customers and the perceptions of retailers’ performance on their value proposition. Then, it brings those three dimensions together to create a list that really, truly ranks retailers on the strength of their value proposition,” Kahner said.

dunnhumby classifies six different dimensions of the customer value propositions that are measured in the RPI:

• The overall quality of the experience and products
• Affordability
• Frictionless transactions
• Product variety
• Visibility
• Convenience and speed

In addition to an overall ranking, retailers are ranked in each of these six categories.

dunnhumby’s convenience RPI is the first of its kind for convenience retailers. It’s meant to be a future-looking metric. It’s not a snapshot in time, but something that retailers can use to plan for the future because it shows “who’s going to continue to win over the next three to five years and why.”

Sign up to be among the first to receive the 2025 Convenience RPI from dunnhumby.

This is part one of a two-part series brought to you by dunnhumby. For a sneak peek into some of the results of the first ever dunnhumby Convenience RPI, look for part two on Thursday.