Aldi leads in foot traffic gains

That’s according to Placer.ai, the Los Altos, Calif.-based software company. For the fourth quarter of 2022 vs. the same year-ago period, Aldi’s foot traffic was up by 6.8%. And compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, foot traffic was up 30.2%. That’s in large part thanks to the chain’s ongoing U.S. expansion, according to Placer.ai, the software company based in Los Altos, Calif. It leverages users’ locations and additional data from mobile phones, drawing on layers of geospatial, psychographics and foot traffic. This allows it, among other things, to provide hyper-targeting of advertising and content. Here’s its foot traffic data on other key chains for the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021 and 2019, respectively: H-E-B, 0.9%, 6.8%; Publix, -4.0%, 8.5%; Safeway, -4.6%, 7.2%; Albertsons, -6.9%, 5.7%; Kroger, -6.3%, -3.2%. Kroger has maintained visits near 2019 levels while growing its digital order fulfillments, meaning “the company is still one of the strongest players in the grocery space,” says Placer.ai. Big gains in foot traffic between July and November last year put Wawa and Grocery Outlet vs. the 2021 period but them among the company’s 10 Top Retailers to Watch list this year.