Mission Statement Of The Fresh Market

Whole Foods Market’s first retail location was in Austin, Texas. Today there are 342 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The growth of this health conscious conglomerate happened over the years by strategic acquisitions of profitable independent stores throughout United States. Mackey’s idealism and respect is exhibited in his openness about the contributions of these retailers to the success of WFM, as the website provides an in depth summary of each acquisition and its contribution to promoting healthier food choices (Whole Foods Market History, 2014). After four years in Austin, Texas WFM branched out into the city of Houston when it purchased the Whole Foods Company, and shortly after, on the west coast, a new store was built in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently WFM began aggressive acquisitions over the next few years, which help to accelerate the growth rate of WFM in other geographical locations. In 2002 WFM opened in Canada and in 2004 through the acquisition of United Kingdom’s grocery chain Fresh & Wild, it opened seven stores. Holistic eating is a worldwide affair that WFM is taking advantage

The grocery industry has a relatively high market commonality; a lot of grocery stores are somewhat related in terms of technologies used, labor force and the products or services offered in the stores. Differentiation with other competitors is key for survival in this highly competitive industry.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the financial health of The Fresh Market and Kroger. The Fresh Market and Kroger focus on selling organic food. The Fresh Market is a 1.7 billion corporation compared to Kroger 108 billion. The information was obtained from the 2014 Balance Sheet and Income Statements for both grocery stores. . There are three different categories of ratios; liquidity, profitability and efficiency. Ratios enable one to not focus on the size of the company, but on the liquidity, profitably and efficiency and the overall financial health of the organization.

What are the main threads to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage? Is the company’s competitive advantage sustainable?

One of Trader Joe’s competitive assets is their business model. They open small stores that give their customers a neighborhood feel. Analysts have found that the chain sells almost twice as much per square foot as its main competitor, Whole Foods (INVESTPOEDIA, 2016). This unique strategy allows consumers to view and choose more products in a given area, therefore making them more likely to find what they are searching for. This strategy is sustainable if Trader Joe’s continues to operate in this manner.

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

Potential entry of new competitors is rendered low for the grocery retailing industry. Puregold, SM Hypermarkets, Rustans, and Robinsons Supermarkets are amongst the top key players in the game. The entry of new competitors could be very low because of the huge capitalization funds that this industry requires. In addition, the industry has been long time dominated by the giant players that had already well established and positioned their brands throughout the country and that they had already spread out with branches in Metro Manila and other regions.

With giants such as Walmart, and Kroger running the grocery store industry it’s difficult for companies such as Smuckers to bargain for shelf-space and prices. Brand name items drawn to the center of the store are what leverages these companies to succeed in the industry. After numerous acquisitions and strategic alliances, Smuckers developed a solid core of product lines which experienced success rapidly. Product lines that experienced the most success as a result of strong positioning in the industry included their Coffee labels, flour and baking products, Oils and food spreads. A 9-Cell Industry Attractiveness/Business Strength Matrix shows that the Industry attractiveness is relatively moderate. With many competitors and strong buyer power from large grocery chains such as Kroger, companies such as Smuckers have explored different strategies that have proved successful in what can be described as a saturated industry. The case insinuates that there may be opportunities in the industry in regards to special markets and perhaps Oils and Baking with sugar free products, but otherwise the recession, although it drove families to buy store bought as opposed to eating out, has had its effects on the food service industry as well.

Trader Joe’s operates over 340 stores in 9 states were they “buy direct from suppliers whenever possible, bargain hard to get the best prices and then pass the savings on to the customer” (Trader Joe’s, 2013, para. 4). Whole Food’s Market is the “world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with more than 360 stores in North America and the United Kingdom” (Whole Food, 2013, para 2). Trader Joe’s and Whole Food’s Market have managed to take original ideas and spread them throughout the nation to many different customers. Although they differ not only in the technique in which they decide to bring products to their customers but also in term of inventory management and supply chain organization. These two companies have become so successful in my opinion, not by what they differ in but what they have most in common, which is their commitment to their loyal customers, employees and undeniable quality in their products they sell. Through their loyalty to their customers and employees in addition to their irreplaceable value

Based out of Long Island City, Queens, FreshDirect was launched in July 2001, by Joseph Fedele and Jason Ackerman. It offers online grocery shopping and delivery service to over 300 zip codes in the Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and surrounding areas. At the time of launch, there had been numerous other online grocery ventures that had ultimately met their demise. What made Fresh Direct unique was that it could offer grocery shoppers: “higher quality at lower prices.” It was able to do so because it had no retail location, which meant there was no rent to pay for retail space. In order to provide its customers with

Whole Foods Market is a chain of organic, natural supermarkets found in USA, Canada and the UK. Initially founded in Austin, Texas in 1980, at a time when there were less than half a dozen natural supermarkets, the company saw rapid growth domestically through expanding across Texas and then into the West Coast of America. This was achieved through growth from the ground up and acquiring smaller natural food companies. Whole Foods Market in the present day is the result of acquiring 14 smaller firms - a key driver in breaking into the UK and Canadian markets.

Power of SuppliersFreshDirect is known for its brand, and its customers are loyal. If the supplier has its own brand name in the market, they can easily interface with local shops or supermarkets, but FreshDirect already has good relationships with suppliers and local

FreshDirect have advances online and food technology and had good knowledge in management but they are weak to deliver coverage and daily food usage products.

On a better note, WFM does an excellent job on designing the interior of their stores so the customers and employees feel at home. Not only does the interior set up make you feel at home but it also exquisitely displays all of its products so that the customer is interested enough to at least check it out. Finally, WFM strives to encourage and teach people about organic foods and the positive effects it has for the consumer and the environment.

Does your local grocery store have a section dedicated to natural or organic foods? I bet it does. That probably wasn't the case in 1980, when Whole Foods Market opened their first store in Austin, Texas. In the past 30 years, Whole Foods Market grocery chain has become the worldwide leader in natural and organic foods.