Walmart Tops The List Of Most Popular Stores In America

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

Data shows that the most popular brands are in fast-food, discount retail, and pharmacy segments.

A new analysis has shown that Walmart is the most popular store in America, according to Placed, a data service that monitors the behaviors of more than 500,00 American consumers.  No other U.S. store could challenge Walmart’s place with a majority of Americans as customers in March.

Although half of the most-visited retailers are fast-food chains, drugstore chains and big-box retailers also made the list.  Placed founder and CEO David Shim explained this trend to the Huffington Post, saying that consumers need to eat every day, while runs for household supplies can wait.  Shim also noted that the lower prices at fast-food chains helps make them be more attractive to customers.

Here is the top ten list, with their corresponding share of shoppers:

1. Walmart (51.9 percent)
2. McDonald’s (48.4 percent)
3. Subway(37.4 percent)
4. Starbucks (31.8 percent)
5. Walgreen Co. (28.5 percent)
6. Target Corporation (23.8 percent)
7. CVS Health Corp (21.9 percent)
8. Burger King (19.9 percent)
9. Taco Bell (19.5 percent)
10. Dollar Tree, Inc. (18.9 percent)

One aspect the top ten had in common was a large advertising budget.  Shim told USA Today, “From our perspective, [advertising] dollars do matter in terms of driving traffic in the store.”  In fact, five of the top ten stores were top spenders on advertising nationwide in 2013, according to Advertising Age.

Coming in at the top spot, Walmart had the highest share of American consumers among all U.S. companies, and it was the only store to command a majority of shoppers’ business.  Walmart’s advertising budget in 2013 was more than $1.8 billion, which likely helped play a role in their success.  Walmart currently has 4,516 U.S. stores.

By comparison, Walgreen Co., which operates 8, 188 stores nationwide, saw only 28.53 percent of shoppers in March.  It was, however, the top drug store in the survey, and Walgreen’s is one of the world’s largest health product retailers.  The company spend approximately $526 on advertising in 2013, helping bolster its popularity.

Target fell into position #6, operating 1,790 stores and garnering 23.83 percent of shoppers.  Target has had a rough patch recently, following the highly publicized data breach and management shifts, as well as the end of its investment in Canadian markets, but nevertheless the retailer still ranks among Americans’ favorite stores.  Target spent approximately $1.7 billion on advertising in 2013, one of the 100 largest annual marketing budgets in the U.S.

CVS took the number seven spot, capturing 21.85 percent of shoppers in its 7,775 stores nationwide.  CVS made the news with its groundbreaking announcement that it would no longer sell any tobacco products at its stores, saying that it was a conflict with its role as a health services provider.

The other major retailer that made the top ten list was Dollar Tree, Inc, reaching 18.90 percent of shoppers with its 5,157 stores nationwide.  With its dollar price tags on much of its merchandise, and its offerings of consumable merchandise, Dollar Tree had a large appeal to customers.  Since food is generally purchased more frequently than other consumables, this helps increase Dollar Tree’s popularity.  Dollar Tree also recently acquired Family Dollar, increasing its store count dramatically.  Dollar Tree now controls more than 8,100 Family Dollar Stores as well.