This fall, research firm Ipsos published the results from thousands of in-store visits by mystery shoppers aimed at understanding how various marketers are performing at making consumers feel safe in their stores. Using the findings, Ipsos launched the second wave of its Consumer Health and Safety Index, a health and safety benchmark that evaluates how retailers are operating amid the pandemic.

After visiting locations across the U.S. – from Trader Joe’s to Walmart and 7-Eleven to Taco Bell – Ipsos determined which brands have implemented adequate health and safety measures as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread. They identified several top performers, like Wells Fargo, which did an excellent job of installing health and safety signage reminding customers of social distancing practices; Panda Express, which excelled in ensuring near perfect compliance of employees wearing PPE properly; and Whole Foods, that maintained its No. 1 position on the index since the first wave by demonstrating consistent performance across the store exterior, interior and restroom.

“We are witnessing a century-old approach to customer experience make monumental changes in a matter of weeks and months; it’s really quite impressive,” said Shohini Banerjee, senior vice president at U.S. Channel Performance group at Ipsos. “Many of the COVID-19 precautions and improvements are not small or inexpensive – they’re a complete shift in how employees behave and how products and services are distributed – a total disruption that retail has taken in stride.”

The top brands in key industries were as follows:

Grocery

Whole Foods topped the grocery industry and emerged as the overall No. 1 brand among 33 brands measured as part of the Index. Whole Foods outperformed competitors in the grocery industry on several categories, including having health and safety related signage; store cleanliness; compliance with employees wearing protective gear; barriers to enforce distancing and availability of sanitizing options.

  • Employees at 76% of Whole Foods stores visited were seen actively cleaning high touch areas, as compared to an industry average of 59%.
  • Associates at a 100% of Whole Foods stores visited were observed to be wearing masks properly, and 98% of customers were observed to comply with the mask policy.
  • Ninety-nine percent of Whole Foods stores had some sort of social distancing enforced in store, including closing every other check-out lane, closure of self-serve food and beverage stations, etc.

Food and beverage

Panda Express topped the food and beverage industry, outperforming industry competitors on health and safety related signage; compliance with employees wearing protective gear; and enforcing distancing measures.

  • Sixty-seven percent of Panda Express locations visited had signage reminding customers to stay 6 feet apart, and 63% had signage regarding store occupancy at the exterior, compared to industry averages of 42% and 17%, respectively.
  • Staff at 96% of Panda Express locations visited were wearing masks properly, compared to the food and beverage industry average of 89%. Staff at 82% of Panda Express locations visited were wearing gloves, compared to the F&B average of 72%.       
  • Fifty-eight percent of the locations visited were seen to have dedicated one-way entrance/exits, compared to an industry average of 27%. Seventy-four percent of locations visited had plexiglass at the service counter, compared to the industry average of 56%.

Financial Services

Wells Fargo emerged as the top performing brand in the financial services industry when it comes to health and safety. Wells Fargo ranked No. 1 among banks measured for implementing health and safety related signage and maintaining cleanliness at their banking locations.

  • Ninety-six percent of Wells Fargo locations visited had a sign requiring customers to wear masks, compared to the industry average of 87%.
  • Wells Fargo topped all other financial services companies in the Interior Cleanliness category, with more shoppers observing surfaces being wiped down during their visit (32%) than at any other bank

Sanitation, cleanliness and restrooms

The top performers for health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic were Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, ShopRite and Costco. 

“Wave 2 of the Consumer Health and Safety Index revealed that, surprisingly, even among brands that are generally considered to be doing a ‘good job’ in their COVID-19 prevention efforts, there are still fairly lax safety protocols on the ground level, particularly when it came to sanitization, cleanliness and restrooms,” said Banerjee.

Only 33% of retailers provided hand sanitizer inside the store entrance and roughly one in four provided hand sanitizer at checkout (28%). One in five retailers visited (19%) had no social distancing reminders present inside stores. 

Methodology

The study was designed in two stages. Ipsos conducted a survey of 2,000 Americans between July 7th and 8th to understand which health and safety attributes are most important to consumers in the current retail environment. The company then conducted mystery shops to measure brand compliance to these health and safety attributes across 25+ brands in four key industries to report on their performance. A random sample of 75-125 locations per brand will be audited during this study, while ensuring geographical representation and a margin of error of 5-7%. While the results presented in the study have a 90% confidence level, observations contrary to the findings reported in the study may be found at individual locations and should be used as an opportunity to further improve the customer experience at these locations.