Health Care Clinics Boost Foot Traffic and Customer Loyalty

Pharmacies have become a staple in grocery stores nationwide, but supermarket operators are enhancing their health and wellness offerings by introducing on-site health care clinics, leading to increased shopper traffic, according to a new report from Placer.ai report .

The white paper titled “The Healthcare Opportunity in Grocery,” released on Thursday, reveals that stores featuring health care clinics attracted more customers than their overall chain averages, with Kroger and its various banners leading the trend.

Kroger pioneered its in-store medical center concept, known as The Little Clinic, in 2003, and has since expanded to 225 locations. Notably, the supermarket’s eight Dillons stores with clinics experienced a 93% increase in visits compared to their banner-wide average in the first half of 2024. Similarly, two supermarkets under Kroger’s Jay C Food Stores banner (which has 22 locations) outpaced their average by 92.9%.

Overall, Kroger stores with clinics witnessed a 43% boost in foot traffic over the banner-wide average, with other chains like Fry’s (19.2%), King Soopers (16.5%), and H-E-B (14.5%) also reporting significant increases.

Placer.ai report ’s research indicates that many stores with health care centers are located in affluent communities, attracting shoppers with higher household incomes. For example, the median household income in markets served by King Soopers’ clinics reached $92,300 in the first half of 2024, significantly higher than the chain’s overall median income of $88,100. Similar trends were observed for H-E-B and Jay C Food Stores.

Kroger’s initiatives have been particularly appealing to families with children. The report noted that 30.6% of households with children in King Soopers’ markets visited the stores with Little Clinics, a trend echoed at Jay C, Dillons, Kroger, and Fry’s.

The clinics are also fostering customer loyalty for Kroger. In Harrison, Ohio, over 36.4% of visitors to Kroger Marketplace made at least six visits in the first half of 2024. In contrast, only 29.0% of visitors to a nearby Kroger store in Cleves made the same number of visits. Similar patterns were seen at other Kroger locations with clinics.

Kroger isn’t the only supermarket chain capitalizing on in-store clinics. H-E-B, based in San Antonio, Texas, launched its H-E-B Wellness platform in 2022, catering to various health care needs.

In the first half of 2024, approximately 83.6% of visitors to H-E-B came from within 10 miles, with this figure rising to 88% for locations featuring primary care clinics. This indicates that wellness services resonate particularly well with local residents, enhancing H-E-B’s connection to the community.

The chain opened clinics in Cypress and Katy, Texas, in 2022 and 2023, observing a notable increase in “Urban Cliff Dwellers”—educated, higher-income shoppers. In Cypress, the percentage of weekday shoppers rose from 9.5% to 12.4% post-opening, while in Katy, the figure increased from 11% to 12.4%.

“This surge in reach among ‘urban cliff dwellers’ following the clinics’ openings suggests that interest in these services extends beyond affluent consumers to middle-class families as well,” the report concluded.