Swot Analysis : Whole Foods Market

Whole Foods Market has a company wide philosophy of spreading awareness about their point of views concerning environmental sustainability, quality standards, animal welfare, and commitment to bettering the planet. The German culture encourages progressive acts of affection that conveniences the prosperity of the developing world. (Whole Foods Market, Missions and Values)

Whole Foods Market is one of the biggest organic and natural whole food suppliers in the world. They provide a wide variety of select foods that are without hormones or antibiotics and are stamped with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s stamp of approval. They value the fact that they can provide people with access to healthy food and be identified with being socially and environmentally responsible.

All in all, Whole Foods Market Inc. is the most influential organic food retailer in the word. It built its motifs centered around its social responsibilities. The company’s green mission, Whole Foundations, and Whole Trade Guarantee showcase its commitment and reslince in supporting and bettering the world’s community busing food as the

* Whole Foods Market was founded in 1980 working with natural and healthy foods in Austin, Texas; it’s one of the world’s largest of natural and organic foods supermarkets. In 2009, the sales total $8 billion and had 289 stores in the U.S. The Whole Foods Market plans to come up with strategies to help improve the company but to do so understanding the core values plays a major role in the company’s planning. The strategies

They have a good vision of where they want to go and a mission statement that will take them there. Whole Foods will probably have a difficult time over the next few years, but they have shown as a company that they can persevere through about anything. Revenue growth can be spurred through a marketing campaign and community outreach. Costs can be controlled through reductions in direct labor, using buyer power to push down cost of goods sold, and reducing capital cost growth. Net income may not grow as much as Whole Foods might like, but the company can easily still remain profitable and continue to grow. Through all of the ups and downs that Whole Foods has experienced, at the end of the day you have to recognize that they are a great up and coming company and a force to be reckoned with in the food retail industry. With the growing popularity and demand for organic and natural products, we feel that Whole Foods would be a great company to invest in. They have a very effective strategy and are always looking for ways to improve their standings for consumers and investors. While financial standings aren’t the primary goal of the organization, they do realize the importance of creating economic value for the shareholders and that is essential to have a successful operation. Whole Foods also has one of the highest employee retention numbers out

Consumers view Whole Foods Markets as being very expensive and have given the retailer the nickname “Whole Paycheck”. Whole Foods carries a wider variety of organic foods and healthier brands besides their private brands. Whole Foods is experiencing a decline in sales due to other stores; like Wal-Mart, who are stocking organic foods at much lower prices; which has decreased differentiation (Lutz, 2014). Its decentralized business model decreases efficiency in procurement, distribution, and marketing efforts.

Whole Foods Market, Inc, is an Austin, Texas based foods grocery that has the finest natural and organic food available, including produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, beer, wine, cheese; in addition to whole body, floral, pet products, and household products. Whole Foods is among the most profitable health food retailers in the United States. The rapid growth and market success has much to do with having remained a uniquely mission-driven company, highly selective about what they sell, dedicated to their core values, stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture.

Whole Foods continues to grow as the leader in organic and natural grocery supplier in the United States, Canada, and England. The company has continued to open new stores in new markets, as well as, opening two 365 by Whole Foods Market stores. Whole Foods became the industry leader by providing high quality natural and organic food products for consumers, which is a better and healthier product for consumers to consume. This is a big part of their competitive advantage. Other grocery stores are limited in their organic supplies, where as at Whole Foods, it is the primary focus. Another comparison is that with the help of Instacart, Whole foods is now the leader when it comes to delivery of fresh groceries then any other grocery in the industry. (Quarterly Results)

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) was founded in Austin, Texas and is a supermarket chain concentrating in organic and natural foods. John Mackey, Rene Lawson Hardy, Craig Weller. The first store opened on September 20, 1980. Whole Foods Markets are located in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Since 1980, Whole Foods Market has remained committed to upholding their missions and values within their company. Whole Foods Market’s motto—“Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet—emphasizes that our vision reaches beyond food retailing” (Whole Foods Market, 2014). Whole Foods Market has committed as an organization in “helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people—customers, Team Members, and business

Whole Foods Market Inc. is known as America’s healthiest grocery store. The company has been recognized as “Most Admired 2015 Companies” and “Top 100 Companies to Work For” by Fortune for eighteen years, stating, “The supermarket chain has redefined grocery shopping in the U.S”. The establishment has been also been ranked at number 3 on the list of America’s most reputable companies in the retail industry. The recognitions and awards represent the decades of passion and dedication of the Whole Foods Market’s

Marketed as ‘America’s healthiest grocery store’ the company has successfully grown to 408 stores across the world with sales of $14 billion in 2014 (Whole Foods Market, 2015). The firm is positioned as an upmarket grocery due to the emphasis on natural, organic origins, and as a result are able to charge a premium for their products. Through efficiently running its operations and stores, Whole Foods are able to maintain healthy 4.02% profit margins (Financial Times, 2015) and operating margins well above the American grocery store industry average at 6.58% (Bloomberg, 2015). Looking at 2015’s quarter 1 figures it is clear to see that Whole Foods have had a hugely successful year with sales of $4.7 billion, up 10% from the same period last year. Furthermore, they opened 9 new stores and have signed a further 11 new leases.

Whole Foods Market (WFM) was founded in 1980 as a single local grocery store by John Mackey for natural and health foods. By 1991, WFM had 10 up-and-running stores with revenues of about $92.5 million in United States Dollars (USD), and a net income of about $1.6 million in USD. In 1992 WFM became a publicly traded company with its stock trading on the NASDAQ. By 2006 Whole Foods Market had progressed into the world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarket. As of September 2007 WFM has 276 stores up-and-running. 263 of the stores are located throughout 37 of the U.S. and the District of Columbia. 7 of the stores are in Canada and 6 in the U.K.

Whole Foods Market began in 1970 as a local supermarket. Over the past 31 years, Whole Foods Market has grown from a single store in Austin, Texas, to becoming one of the worldwide leaders in providing consumers with natural and organic foods. They have grown to over 300 stores in both North America and the United Kingdom. (Whole Foods Market, Inc., 2011) This report examines the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market has put into place. Also, it uses past financial data to provide an assessment of the condition of the company going forward. Those assessments include recommendations of future actions, along with concerns I have about the way the company is currently operating and some difficulties that may be on the way.

2. Is Whole Foods’ strategy well matched to market conditions in the food retailing industry (one of the criteria for a winning strategy discussed in Chapter 1)?

Whole Foods Market (WFM), founded in 1980, had evolved and expanded from a local supermarket selling natural and health foods into a big leader of the natural and organic food industry in the U.S. WFM used the slogan “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet” to indicate the company mission of promoting organically and naturally grown food, more healthy eating, which helped to sustain the world’s entire ecosystem. The vision of the founder of WFM, John Mackey, was to build WFM to an international brand that providing greatest quality of natural and organic foods in those areas where WF stores located. WFM implemented different strategies on company growth, store location, product line, pricing, merchandizing, marketing and customer service, social media, and purchasing and distribution to fulfill its eight core values (Thompson, A. A., Peteraf, M. A., Gamble, J., & Strickland, A. J., 2016).