Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies

Trader Joe’s is a major food retailer who has developed quite the name for themselves. It has well over 350 stores in over 32 states and is expected to continually grow over the next few years (Bond, 2012). For over 50 years, Trader Joe’s has been providing quality customer services, products and a unique shopping experience for its customers. They have come a very long way from when they first officially opened their doors. Trader Joe’s started when its founder Joe Coulombe wanted to find a way to differentiate his 7-Eleven stores (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien & Hunt, 2012). In the food retailer industry, Trader Joe’s has developed a process that works well and

Trader Joe’s is in the broad market of grocery retailers, a market where the top 10 revenue-generating companies accounted for over $360 billion in sales in 2011. This market is saturated with supermarkets (Publix and Kroger), large discount retailers (Wal-Mart and Target), premium retailers (Whole Foods and Fresh Market), warehouse clubs (Costco and Sam’s Club), and “hard discount” retailers (Dollar General). With this large variation in grocer strategies, the market is heavily penetrated and competition is fierce. Supermarkets are continually losing market share in grocery sales (51 percent in 2011 as opposed to 66 percent in 2001) as players like Wal-Mart and Costco continue to generate more revenue. Although the supermarket share is decreasing, the overall grocery market is steadily increasing as the population of the United States increases. People always need to eat, so there will always be a

In the United States, the food retail industry is absolutely massive. According to Statista, this industry brings in nearly 5.27 trillion dollars annually and 594.4 billion of that is from grocery store sales. In this market, the 20-ton gorilla in the room is Walmart, racking in nearly 20% of the entire market at around 118 billion dollars in 2013 according to the Harvard Business School case study. Following Walmart, Kroger and Costco own the biggest next largest slices bringing in 76 billion and 71 billion respectively. In this highly competitive market that has some of the smallest margins of any industry it can be tough to get ahead and even tougher to grow. However, Trader Joe’s has managed to pierce what was once a very small world

Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods are grocery retailers who have become very successful. Both these companies offer whole, natural, and quality products but operate to a wide extent particularly in terms of inventory management and supply chain organizations. Trader Joe’s has incredible inventory management and their supply chain focuses on private labels and extreme secrecy while Whole Foods has poor inventory management but their supply chain is quick, nimble and versatile. A huge competitive advantage that Whole food has is that they keep their shelves packed with about 25,00 to 45,000 products while Trader Joe’s keeps about 4,000 products. However, Trader Joes’ still made about $1,750 per square foot in 2009, more than double of what Whole

Grocery shopping is more diversified and evolved than ever before. Individuals across the nation have access to everything from exotic products to unique delivery services. Often, specialty stores have limited locations whereas specialty services have a limited reach. However, two retailers have expanded to hundreds of locations while adhering to unexpected market positioning for previously untargeted market segments. Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s have become household names while also innovating beyond regional and national traditional chains. Despite comparable size in

For the corporation that has acquired another company, merged with another company, or been acquired by another company, evaluate the strategy that led to the merger or acquisition to determine whether or not this merger or acquisition was a wise choice. Justify your opinion.

The cult following for Trader Joe’s distinguishes it from its competition. This cult is projected to grow as upcoming generations become more and more price sensitive. Loyal shoppers will camp out overnight for a grand opening or, in one example, write 50 letters to the headquarters pleading for a store opening in their state. This is surprising because their target shopper, Millennials, “show little retailer loyalty” when it comes to where they get their groceries. Trader Joe’s has obtained this loyalty through their Every Day Low Pricing Strategy, constantly changing inventories, and superb store environments.

They continue to remain at the top and keep their market position by providing a focused differentiation strategy by maintaining low costs and high quality specialized products, primarily with their private label brand and offering a unique shopping experience with excellent customer service. According to our textbook, “customers shop Trader Joe’s as much as for entertainment as for conventional grocery items – the store stocks out-of-the-ordinary culinary treats like raspberry salsa, salmon burgers, and jasmine fried rice, as well as the standard goods normally found in supermarkets” (Crafting and Executing Strategy: Concepts and Readings, 2016). They target well educated areas, with mid-income levels, as well as college towns. The millennial generation, is another target as they represent a large part of the population and are very likely to purchase healthy, organic products. Stores are small, with a neighborhood feel, where customers have easy access to get what they need and get out quickly. They have been able to prosper during recessions as they have been able to keep their prices low by dealing directly with suppliers and eliminating the middleman.

Studying the demographics, such as education and food and cooking magazine subscriptions places stores in the right place to achieve profits (Tobak, 2010). As stated in our textbook, “Winning strategies enable a company to achieve a competitive advantage over key rivals that is long lasting” (Crafting and Executing Strategy: Concepts and Readings, 2016, p. 12). Offering excellent customer service not found anywhere else, along with their private labeled products continues to differentiate Trader Joe’s and give them a competitive advantage over their

The existing rivals of Whole Foods Market are primarily Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Wegman’s, Walmart, and Safeway. However, Whole Foods Market has a specific niche and caters to a particular clientele attempting to increase customer loyalty, as it focuses on carrying natural and organic foods and is considered a premium brand upscale grocery store. The principal competitor of Whole Foods Market is Trader Joe’s, which has over 400 stores in North America and sells a substantial amount of organic food and products (they are not, however, exclusively organic and natural). Trader Joe’s stores are much smaller with less product selection

The Drugstore retail industry is a $31.4 Billion industry across Canada and continues to grow steadily (Industry Canada, 2015). There are many competitors in the drugstore retail market in Canada both small and large. With the entrance of large American companies such as Walmart and even their very own parent company Loblaw’s, Shoppers has been forced to be at the top of their game to stay ahead in the drug retail market. The implementation of a produce section in select locations across Canada is one of the many ways that shoppers has been adapting to this competitive industry. Due to this adaptation, the company has opened itself to a whole new group of competitors from convenience store to grocery stores. Shoppers Drug Mart tackles this competition by differentiating itself in the market by offering “prestige products” (Kwon, N. 2013) and convenience that competitors do not offer. (Our Company, 2015)

The history of Coca Cola began in 1886 when Dr. John S Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist created a tasty soft drink which could sell at soda fountains. Since then, Coca Cola grew to be a global brand and touched great heights. Today, it sells across 200 countries and is just as popular across all the markets and nations. The company today, owns or licenses and markets more than 500 non alcoholic beverage brands. The brand has only few major competitors in the global market. The daily servings of coca cola are estimated to be at 1.9 billion globally. (Coca-Colahellenic, n.d.) This is just another proof of the popularity of the brand which has a very large and diversified

The story of Coca-Cola dates to the late 1800’s where an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Permberton, created a soft drink that would later develop into the “Coke” that is now a staple within many American households. Coca-Cola quickly found themselves bottling for mass production in 1899, which was something revolutionary for the time. No other soft drink was being mass-produced in bottles like Coke was attempting to do. This was due in large part to three businessmen out of Chattanooga who had purchased bottling rights, and had the mindset of taking the soft drink in a direction no other soft drink gone before. The famous Coca-Cola label and logo were not produced until 1916, but the label has never seen a change since.

Coke was invented by Dr. John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist and his three-legged brass pot all the way back in 1886; by 1985 Coke was closing in fast on its centennial anniversary. (Cook, 2002) Coke along with the legendary chairman Roberto C. Goizueta had witnessed a remarkable set of accomplishments during the 1980's. There were some creeping problems, however. The 87-year old rivalry between Coca-Cola, the

From a modern marketing point of view, grocery business and its stores are in “maturity and saturated stage” of the market-product life cycle. The aging of the baby boomer generation and the rising trend of healthy organic foods made way for Trader Joe’s, a less traditional grocery store with many more “hip” brands and innovations. Trader Joe’s is a fascinating company. It is privately owned and a sassy young company. It started off modestly with few small convenience stores in Pasadena, California. Trader Joe’s were differentiated from the local grocery stores with its tropical theme and its “exclusive” business style (naming the store