Explorer / Q3 2026

The four levels,
group by group.

Every banner was assessed on 78 capabilities in 16 groups, at one of four levels. The bars show the share of banners at each level. All 200 banners is open to everyone; the format and region cuts, and the capability readouts, open after sign-in. No banner is named here.

The sixteen capability groups

Choose a base. A base under 20 banners is illustrative.

Capability group	Share at each level, all banners (200)	Advanced or better
Brand Storytelling & MerchandisingShopping Experience		44%
In-Store InspirationShopping Experience		47%
Online InspirationShopping Experience		43%
Store & Digital IntegrationShopping Experience		43%
Associate & Customer EmpowermentCheckout Experience		49%
Cart Experience & FeaturesCheckout Experience		44%
Checkout Efficiency & CommunicationCheckout Experience		40%
Payments & PromotionsCheckout Experience		42%
Cost & OptimizationFulfillment Experience		51%
Customer Communication & ConvenienceFulfillment Experience		53%
Fulfillment Options & FlexibilityFulfillment Experience		43%
Speed & AccuracyFulfillment Experience		44%
Cross-Channel Support IntegrationService Experience		52%
Customer Feedback & LoyaltyService Experience		33%
Post-Purchase Support & ResolutionService Experience		50%
Self-Service & AutomationService Experience		42%

Basic
Developing
Advanced
Leading

The capabilities the findings read

The 45 capabilities the sixteen findings rest on, each with the four levels in the framework’s own words and the share of banners at each, for all banners.

See the readouts behind every finding, format by format.

After sign-in you go straight to the explorer.

All 16 findings, each with a decision the commerce leader can own.
The explorer, with the readouts the findings rest on.
Every leaderboard, and the Leading marks on every banner profile.
The four perspectives in full.
The option to connect Claude or ChatGPT to the report.

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Access opens the moment you sign in with a work address. Work addresses only. Personal email addresses cannot sign in.

Your address is used for access and nothing else unless you tick research updates. There is no password to store.

The readout behind each finding

Sixteen findings, one headline number each, at the base it rests on.

1.1

Search finds the item. Nothing says whether the store has it.

Base 200, all banners.

The four levels,group by group.

The sixteen capability groups

The capabilities the findings read

See the readouts behind every finding, format by format.

The readout behind each finding

Search finds the item. Nothing says whether the store has it.

Nobody tells the online shopper how fresh the food is.

Tonight’s dinner is a North American habit, not a grocery one.

The promotion on the shelf is not the promotion online.

Loyalty reached the online checkout. The savings did not.

Four US supermarkets in ten still take SNAP only at the register.

Scan-and-go is a supercenter habit. Supermarkets are still queuing.

The weekly shop still starts from an empty cart.

The shopper is told about the swap. They cannot say no in time.

The fee is shown. The cost behind it is not, to the shopper or to the CFO.

The pickup slot is there. Changing it means a phone call.

You tell the shopper the order is late. You do not tell them it stayed cold.

Grocers wait for the complaint.

The loyalty card knows the household. The service desk does not.

Almost nobody asks the shopper what happened.

An AI assistant that shops for the household exists at three supermarkets in a hundred.

Read your own banners against the release.

The four levels,
group by group.