Case Study : Wegmans Food Market

Wegmans Food Markets Inc. has grown from a small food store into a name that strikes fear in its competitors. The company has achieved such a great level of success by offering competitive pricing and frequent product updates to better fit customer’s needs than more traditional grocery stores. Being such an innovative company is what allowed Wegmans to have great success in the northeastern United States regional market.

Wegmans’ model of contribution and giving back to its community proves to be a successful and profitable way of doing business. Wegmans’ philosophy of taking care of their employees, the customers and community that keeps them in business, insures that they will continue to expand and build positive relations with whomever they encounter. Wegman helps support the communities it surrounds by providing support for charities, employee scholarships, customer promotions and maintaining sustainability.

A weakness that Whole Foods have is their reputation. A reputation for a grocer is key to its survival and they have the reputation of being very expensive or some call it “whole paycheck.”

The main competitors in the national grocery chain are Kroger, Whole Foods, IGA, and Supervalu; several regional grocery chains including BI-LO, Winn-Dixie, Ingles, Fresh Market, Sweetbay, Piggy Wiggly consolidated with warehouse and retail chains including Wal-mart, Costco, Kmart, Target, BJ’s Wholesale and Sam’s Club. Publix for 15th consecutive years has been named as one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to work. It has never had any layoffs even though some stores have closed and new ones have opened. Each year, the company issues shares of its stock to eligible full- and part-time employees, and cash dividends earned on these shares are paid directly to employees. Publix is a highly established and successful supermarket with friendly service and an immense array of products. They offer “buy- one- get- one- free” deals which vary from week to week on several products within the store.

Publix is not your quintessential grocery store, it is so much more. What is it about Publix that make it unique from all the other stores that sell groceries? What are its unique selling points that add extra value to a visit? Why are customers willing to pay more to shop there? To quote Publix President, Todd Jones, “We believe that there are three ways to differentiate: service, quality and price. You’ve got to be good at two and the best at one. We make service our number one, then quality and then price” (Jones, 2013).

Benefits can be expensive and one would hope that their employer is able to provide a good benefit package while they are employed. Publix and Whole Foods are similar in terms of 401K and health insurance. Publix also offers employee stock ownership and education benefits. The key difference is that Publix offers employees sixteen paid days off after one year versus Whole Foods, which only offers ten days off after one year. The extra week that Publix offers can be essential when seeking a career due to kids, vacations, unscheduled events etc. Rewarding employees with incentives like more time off creates a positive working environment and gives the employee motivation to be more

Since it first began in the late 1800’s, Kroger had been a store motivated to expand its role in the community. After first starting out by selling grocery items to customers, it began to also sell bakery items and opened bakeries within the grocery store itself. This was a big convenience for the consumer to be able to shop for most of their grocery items within the same store. The company then set its sights on the meat industry by purchasing several meat markets and packing plants. This allowed them to provide cuts of meat to their customers so that they didn’t have to go to another store to purchase meats. Once again, they found a needed service

Publix is an employee-owned supermarket chain that is said to be the largest of its kind in the United States. Its operations span throughout the southeast region, with locations in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina; with Florida having nearly half of the company’s operating base. George W Jerkins founded the corporation as an employee-owned private entity. The company has managed to create over 168,000 jobs in its numerous branches now totaling to a tune of 1098 stores. Moreover, it has invested in cooking schools and grocery distribution. The company’s turnover in the previous year, 2014, was 28.92 billion US dollars to 1.74 billion as its net profit ranking it to be the thirteenth largest private retail company in the United States (Forbes.com, 2014). Currently, the price of its stock share is around 39 US dollars per share capital. The company has managed to build a niche for itself competing with the likes of Costco, Whole Foods, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Sam’s Club and even Wal-Mart.

Since it first began in the late 1800’s, Kroger had been a store motivated to expand itsrole in the community. After first starting out by selling grocery items to customers, it began toalso sell bakery items and opened bakeries within the grocery store itself. This was a bigconvenience for the consumer to be able to shop for most of their grocery items within the samestore. The company then set its sights on the meat industry by purchasing several meat marketsand packing plants. This allowed them to provide cuts of meat to their customers so that theydidn’t have to go to another store to purchase meats. Once again, they found a needed serviceand expanded their role to capitalize on it. Over the years, Kroger’s expansion has followed

Wegmans Food Market, Inc. is a regional supermarket chain headquartered in New York State, which has 83 stores. Since 1998, it has appeared on Fortune’s annual “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, and is ranked the fifth in 2013. This article will analyze Wegmans’

This image event will take place at a Trader Joes grocery store located in Bethesda Maryland; just off of Wisconsin Ave tucked into a small strip mall. Trader Joes is a grocery store that values their costumers and therefore the food that they offer to sell to them. Most, if not all the food available at your local Trader Joes will not contain or use GMOs, which is very important due to the negative effects it has proven to cause on peoples health down the line. The ultimate mission here, is to create an impact on the costumers by putting huge, but false GMO labels on every item sold at the store, and see how many people buy their food regardless of the fact that its explicitly saying there are GMOs in the food you are willing to purchase.

that made the first Kroger store successful in 1883 – service, selection and value – continue to

Publix Super Markets is one of the largest and fastest growing employee-owned grocery companies in the United States. The company seeks to provide a broad range of quality and fresh products at reasonably affordable prices. They purposefully strive to avoid waste, offer great value, and act as good corporate citizens for the communities that they serve. The company also maintains manufacturing and distribution centers to supply its stores. Unless otherwise noted, the core information about the elements of Publix comes from their website, whose address is http://www.publix.com/Home.do.

The Dollar General is an American wholesale company that was first initiated in Scottsville, Tennessee by Turner and Cal Turner. Its headquarters are located in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. The mission statement of the Dollar General is "Serving Others." This mission statement helps to bring out the innate requests and intentions of the company in the United States of America and other countries in the world. The company has a vision that describes how it manages to cater for four different types of people. These four groups of people include the customers, the community, employees, and shareholders. Within these categories of people, Dollar General aspires to serve others through deliver of price quality and terrific prices for customers, opportunity, and respect for employees, a superior return for shareholders and a better life for the communities.

Publix is the leading employee owned supermarket found in 1930 by George Jenkins in Winter Haven, Florida. Currently, there are 1,051 stores in the five states who operate Publix’s supermarkets, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. Its promise to commitment has facilitated their success in a being a grand place to work and shop. “Where shopping is a pleasure” is Publix’s slogan which they are known for promising never to disappoint a shopper intentionally. Not only does Publix cater to their customers but their employees as well which has maintained high rate of employee fidelity.