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RESEARCH

How ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity Answer “Best Grocery Store” Questions

In our study, the models didn’t interpret "What is the best grocery store?" as a request for a single answer. Most responses listed several chains and divided the choices by price, product quality, convenience, organic selection, bulk shopping, or other shopping needs.

5WPR RESEARCH | JULY 2026
Local Relevance Outperforms National Scale

Every year, national retailers like Kroger and Target spend billions of dollars on advertising to maintain widespread brand awareness. Yet when we tested how Claude, ChatGPT, and Perplexity responded to “best grocery store” questions in 15 major metro areas, smaller, regional chains appeared first in 91% of responses.

New 5WPR research shows which chains hold an advantage and where national retailers lost ground. We also share how leaders can strengthen connections in the neighborhoods they serve and improve their position in high-intent user queries within AI answers. Our findings highlight the following:

Infographic showing 673 usable AI responses, 9.4 average chains named per response, 2.1 percent of responses naming one chain, 91.4 percent where the first chain named appeared in six or fewer tested cities, and 7.4 percent where the first chain named appeared in at least 12 tested cities.

Figure 1. Key findings from the 5WPR local grocery AI study. Source: 5WPR analysis of 673 usable responses across ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity in 15 U.S. metropolitan areas.

For example, one Austin response placed H-E-B first while presenting Whole Foods Market as a strong option for premium organic products. The variation matters because total mentions and first position measure different outcomes. One chain may appear often because the brand is widely recognized. Another chain may appear first because the AI response links the brand to the area mentioned in the question.

Regional Grocery Chains Appeared First in 91% of Local AI Responses
In 91.4% of the 673 responses, the first mention was a regional chain that appeared in six or fewer of the 15 metro areas tested. National chains that appeared in 12 or more metro areas ranked first in only 7.4% of responses.

Horizontal bar chart showing 615 responses where the first chain named appeared in six or fewer cities, eight responses where it appeared in seven to eleven cities, and 50 responses where it appeared in twelve to fifteen cities.

Figure 2. Where the first grocery chain named appeared across the 15 tested cities. Source: 5WPR analysis of 673 usable local grocery responses.

For executives, the business case is straightforward: broad recognition can help a chain appear in an AI answer, but it does not determine which chain appears in its top recommendations.

Frequent Brand Mentions Did Not Guarantee First Place in Answers

Trader Joe’s Led All Chains in Mentions but Appeared First in Only 2.7% of Responses

Trader Joe's appeared in 480 responses, more than any other chain in the study. However, Trader Joe's appeared first in only 13 responses, resulting in a first-position rate of 2.7%.