Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, started in Austin, Texas as a foods grocer for natural and organic foods. They opened in 1980, and have become one of the top grocery stores, and the top natural food grocery stores in the U.S. much of their success can be attributed to their never failing policy to always follow their companies core values. The company’s core values include selling the highest quality natural and organic products available, satisfying and delighting our customers, supporting team member happiness and excellence, creating wealth through profits & growth, and caring about our communities & our environment (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble, & Strickland III, 2016).
Positive/Negative Strategies
Positive Strategies
Growth strategy
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They knew the importance of having larger stores with larger selections in dense urban areas and smaller stores in less populated areas. This allows upper management to put in place an overlaying strategy that could be brought down to the individual store level to maximize profits by using a size to potential consumer ratio. This enable stores to include variety of product selection but not limited to seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, specialty beer, wine and cheese, coffee and tea, nutritional supplements, vitamins, body care and educational products such as books, floral, pet products and household products (Thompson et al., …show more content…
This gives them the building blocks for forming and executing consistent and effective strategies.
Highest Quality Standard - Whole Foods has a loyal customer base that believes Whole Foods provides highest quality in organic or natural characteristics of its products. Whole food standards bans hundreds of ingredients commonly found in other supermarkets such as no artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, hydrogenated fats, or meat from animals raised with antibiotics. In addition, Whole Foods sells only eggs from cage free hens and has its high standard for framing, manufacturing fishing and ranching practice (Dalavagas, 2015).
Competition
Competition in high growth industry – While Whole Foods has the largest market share in the natural food grocer segment, the food industry as a whole is quite competitive. Whole Foods also has a lot of competition in the natural foods segment due to its popularity and high grow potential. They compete with local/regional natural food markets, wholesale food clubs, farmers markets and specialty food markets for example Trader Joe’s Whole Foods competitor recorded $10.8 billion in sales in 2013. Also more of the food industry giants like Wal-Mart, Kroger and Costco are carrying more and more organic and natural food products then they have in the past (Thompson et al., 2016).
...ir advantage. Franchises such as Walmart, manipulate product advertising and put items in specific places to increase chance of sales.
The food market business is usually a difficult one, but online retailer Amazon's proceeding to purchase high-end chain Whole Foods changed the landscape. The new corporation is currently reducing prices, as well as Amazon is managing to reduce costs by taking its online expertise
Whole Foods Market allows each market to supply products that are standardized, and also supply products based on local buyer needs, as well as the culture of the area; therefore their business strategy is transnational (Thompson, 2016, p. 192). Whole Foods Market varies their products based on location, focusing on local products and any unique products to promote a neighborhood market feel for their customers. The company strategically chooses its locations, placing them in educated areas, and then focuses on products to sustain a competitive advantage.
Competitors in the grocery store industry must compete on many facets, including price and inventory, to obtain a competitive advantage. Many stores are following suite with Whole Foods and moving into the organic food markets. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are in the forefront of this market, but stores like Kroger, Walmart, and HarrisTeeter are adding organic aisles and increasing their natural product supply. Companies are also competing over variety of food. Many companies are attempting to amass a variety of products from a multitude of cultures and climates to enhance the consumer experience. Lastly, grocers compete on brand strength. Consumers often show allegiance to one particular store, so companies must generate a large base of loyal customers.
Not many companies have the same track record and this proves that Whole Foods is in it not only for
Gaar, B. (2013, December 21). Whole Foods chain is growing, but facing increasing competition. The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved February 25, 2014, from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2013/12/21/healthy-but----.html
This mission statement reads,“Whole Foods Market is a dynamic leader in the quality food business. We are a mission-driven company that aims to set the standards of excellence for food retailers. We are building a business in which high standards permeate all aspects of our company. Quality is a state of mind at Whole Foods Market.” Whole Foods Market stresses high quality throughout its mission statement. The “standards of excellence for food retailers” piece of the mission statement shows that Whole Foods Market aims to become the industry leader in excellence standards. Moreover, in this mission statement, the firm emphasizes a quality point of view, relevant to employees’ mindset in an administrative capacity, and the food selections of Whole Foods Market customers. Thus, Whole Foods Market’s mission statement accounts for the company’s product quality, their place in the market, organizational integrity and the well-being of its
Gamble, John E., Strickland, A.J. Thompson, Arthur “Whole Foods Market In 2006: Mission, Core Values, and Strategy”, Crafting & Executing Strategy 15th Ed., McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2007
Some conventional supermarket or supercenters will have a few organic items to pick from, but the top contenders the company needs to worry about are: Wild Oats Market, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Fairway Market. Wild Oats Market still has some business deals to close before it can fully take on Whole Foods. At one time Wild Oats Market branches off of Whole Foods, but due to some circumstances the giant health food chain had to sell the branch. As for Sprouts Farmers Market, although small this company can help promote local fair and gain more popularity in that regard compared to Whole Foods. Lastly, Fairway Market another small health food grocery chain rapidly growing proves to be a potential competitor along with the other two (Tuttle, 2013). There are plenty of other local and well known brands that provide more choices for consumers to pick from. But, the three mentioned above are companies worth keeping an eye out for in the future especially if what they have to offer is a better offer than Whole
Mackey acknowledges that Trader Joes is probably their most aggressive competitor, especially since some perceive their pricing to be lower. Conversely, WFM has answered back with its own price strategy developing a store brand organic line, 365 Foods. With the number of consumers demanding organic increasing over the years, major grocery chains like Kroger have added organic and specialty food choices to capture some of WFM customers. So have other stores like Wal-Mart and Meijer. However, ask any WFM loyalist and they will tell you that the product offering in these stores cannot stand up to the standards they are accustomed to. However, other holistic competitors such as Sprouts Farmers Market and The Fresh Market are showing that they are serious competitors as they cautiously add stores. Also, WFM stocks did not do as well as stockholders anticipated (Competitive A...
To most consumers Whole Foods is known as a chain grocery store specializing in organic and natural foods. Some may go as far as say the name is synonymous with quality. This comparison is the result of Whole Foods’ marketing their brand successfully to consumers demanding their specialized foods. As with any organization, Whole Foods may consider evaluating their strategic objectives and decide if necessary course corrections are needed to reach their objectives and goals. Through a fundamental and technical analysis, I will discuss Whole Foods’ mission, vision, and goals, their competitive environment, and some factors within their strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat analysis. With such data and information I will recommend, if needed, and strategic changes in order to sustain a competitive advantage.
Currently, in the organic food market, there are approximately six competitors. However, due to the market leader strategy in the form of pioneering the market, WFM has an upper hand and competitors are acting in providing health competitions in the industry. Competitors are acting like benchmarking companies that learn business and industry strategies from each other. The market is considered green in terms of organic food manufacturing and selling and there are little resources in terms of consumers these companies are fighting to keep. There is a large unsatisfied market hence those competing in the same industry do not seem to really compete but trying to satisfy the
This section explains the conditions in the organic food industry that will Whole Foods with opportunities. The aging Baby Boomer generation has resulted in an increased population of people that are more informed, health-conscious and willing to spend more on healthy natural foods. These people with higher disposable income will be the main drivers for the demand of organic foods. America in general is also growing in affluence, providing Whole Foods with a larger target market. Together with the fact that Americans spend a considerable amount of their expenditure on food, organic foods have become affordable to most Americans. Urban singles with higher spending power are also set to drive and sustain demand for organic foods.
They have always had the customer’s best interest in mind. They may not offer just healthy foods, but needless to say the population in American isn’t all healthy. Whole Foods has obviously fought against Wal Mart to get some of this information out there. They want customers to know that they offer a wide array of healthy foods unlike places like Wal Mart. But, the fact of the matter is that Wal Mart serves more than 140 million people per week in the United States and most of those customers aren’t going anywhere. We all need Wal Mart’s wide array of supplies and obviously we will be picking up groceries there as well, because there is no reason to go to two different
Trader Joe’s also followed the statement into the cost leadership strategy that they do not set up a large shopping center area, instead of a place less than 10000 square feet which carry less items than normal market. It shows that, people would rather like to shopping in the area with less items because it can save their time of finding the products and consideration of buying products.