As supermarkets further wade into healthcare territory, a new white paper from Placer.ai found that grocery store clinics tend to draw in consumers on the upper ends of local income spectrums.
Placer’s report, which was published earlier this month and is based on an analysis of foot traffic data, compared Kroger banners with on-site Little Clinics and H-E-B stores with H-E-B Wellness clinics to their respective chains without clinics and saw that those with built-in healthcare services are having an overall positive impact on store visits.
“Across chains, locations with on-site healthcare offerings drew more visits in H1 2024 than their chain-wide averages,” according to Placer.
Kroger chains like King Scoopers and Jay C Foods Stores as well as H-E-B locations offering clinics are positioned in areas serving higher-income communities, Placer found. For example, the median household income of King-Scoopers’ in-store clinic’s potential markets is more than $92,000, which is well above the chain’s overall potential market median household income of $88,100, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Fry’s, Kroger and Dillons have in-store clinics with potential market median household incomes that are slightly below chainwide averages. But higher-income consumers are seeking out the locations with clinics, Placer found.
The Placer report also noted that grocers’ healthcare offerings can also benefit families as well as drive repeat visits.
The convenience of the Little Clinics’ family health services like physicals, nutrition plans and vaccines in a local grocery store is proving effective in drawing in households with children, the report found.
Five Kroger banners — Kroger, King Scoopers, Fry’s, Jay C and Dillons — all saw their share of parental households in their locations with Little Clinics jump significantly compared to chainwide averages.
In H1 2024, Little Clinic Krogers also had more repeat shoppers — customers making six or more stops at the store in a set period of time — compared to stores without the clinic.
Kroger currently operates more than 225 Little Clinic locations across its banners, including Kroger, Dillons, Jay C, Fry’s and King Scoopers. H-E-B’s healthcare platform is newer, debuting in 2022, and currently includes around a dozen primary care clinics.
