Goldman Finds Walmart Maintains Lead In Value Pricing War

Analysts at Goldman analyzed prices across 38 grocery items in the dairy, frozen goods, dry grocery, HPC, and produce categories at Kroger, Albertsons (Randalls banner), Walmart, Sprouts Farmers Market, Whole Foods, and Dollar General to determine which retailers provide the best value for consumers. 

Goldman analysts led by Leah Jordan found that Walmart continued to offer the best all-around grocery deals for cash-strapped consumers.

“WMT had the lowest prices at -11.2% vs. the group average (narrowed from -12.7% last month), followed by DG at -5.6% (vs -3.8% last month). ACI had the highest prices in the group at +9.7%, followed by WFM at +7.3%. KR had the highest SKU availability for the products surveyed at 38, followed by WMT at 37,” Jordan said. 

… and the lowest prices in most categories: 

“WMT had the lowest prices in dairy products (-10.3%), frozen foods (-14.2%), dry grocery (-11.7%), and produce (-18.2%), while DG had the lowest prices in HPC (-14.3%). On the other hand, ACI had the highest prices in dairy products (+4.9%), HPC (+5.3%), and produce (+15.7%), while DG had the highest prices in frozen foods (+14.6%). Additionally, SFM had the highest prices in dry grocery (+8.7%), although we note a limited SKU count.” 

The analysts noted that since the last price check in November, the “basket was relatively stable m/m as increases in produce and dairy were largely offset by decreases in HPC and frozen foods,” adding, “By retailer, we observed the most sequential increases from KR and ACI with 3 out of 5 categories and the most sequential decreases from KR, ACI, and WMT with 2 out of 5 categories.” 

For much of the year, Walmart and Dollar General lead all other retailers versus the group average in offering the best deals. 

Here are all 38 SKUs analyzed by the analysts. 

Grocery Pricing Survey

Grocery Pricing Survey – Variance vs. Group Average

Walmart reigns supreme nationwide in offering cash-strapped consumers the best deals (read here & here) amid persistent inflation and high interest rates, which continue to financially strain working-poor households.