The Fresh Market

On averaged their stores are roughly 38,000 square feet and their locations typically carried 21,000 SKUs. They make two-thirds of its revenue by selling bakery, perishable items, and prepared foods. (Ager & Roberto, 2014). Peoples tend to shop at Whole Food Market because of their high-quality natural and organic food. In today’s world peoples are more concern about health concise and effect of pesticide products, more people choose to have organic fruits and vegetables. Whole Foods get most of their produces from local people which are natural and organic, which will help them gain more customer than other company because of increasing demand of organic food (Whole Foods Market History, n.d). They also have a strong brand image and they were the first supermarket who commit to completely eliminating disposable plastic grocery bags to help protect the environment. They also sell many USDA-certified organic

The ratios in this report are going to be used to compare WF to its competitior and also to compare its financial performances to the whole Grocery store industry (SIC: 5411) to see how Whole Foods Inc is doing in regards to the whole industry. It is crucial to compare a company’s ratios with the industry’s, because they may appear good or bad when comparing with the company’s competitors, however, when comparing these ratios to the industry a different

Whole Foods, just like any other retailer right now, has been struggling with the economy. The external environment has been changing in uphill and downhill motions daily, something that Whole Foods has never experienced before. Not only is there pressure on the financials of the corporation, but also there is the pressure to go green.

When comparing store design, there are major differences. Whole Foods offers more of a “total experience” for shoppers,

I would not invest in Whole Foods stock. WF ranks 284, on the Fortune 500 list of 2010 and Store Growth was up and compounded annual growth was high. However, they’re stock has been consistently declining in the last several years. Their once high-flying Whole Foods stock is down a remarkable 30% for the year-to-date and has been trading sideways since May. Kroger (the nation’s largest supermarket operator)

While the foods retail industry is highly competitive, Whole Foods has established a reputation and maintains a brand loyalty with its customers. Increased rivalry will occur in the larger grocery chains like Wal-Mart and Kroger, because of their flexibility in the products they can offer, and the pressures they can put on the sales growth and overall profits of Whole Foods. They have a larger cash and customer base, and the ability to better advertise their products, while Whole Foods still generates most of their

The comparison between Target Corp and the industry Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) is to examine if both the industry as well as Target’s returns are consistent with each other. Target is located under NAICS code 452990, which entails All Other General Merchandise Stores. The ROIC is how effectively a company uses the money borrowed or owned invested in its operations (Carpenter, 2009). As stated earlier, ROIC is calculated by dividing current operating profits by liabilities and equity from the previous year. Figure 2 provides a detailed interpretation on Target’s ROIC and the industry ROIC. As

Historically Whole Food Market has grown by opening new locations and acquisitions within affluent neighborhoods that target wealthier more educated consumers Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p 29-12). Whole Foods Market has been the number one supplier of natural

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.

This would suggest a weakness within the Whole Foods organizations as it only targets consumers who are willing to pay higher than average prices for groceries. The cost of

Whole Foods has been adaptive in fitting its competitive strategy to its situation. The store first grew to prominence by being a stylish antithesis to the crunchy mom-and-pop organic grocery stores, providing a relatively normal but

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 has expanded by a mixture of opening its own new stores and acquiring already existing stores. Today WFM does not follow this strategy, instead their motivation is to open its own large stores. This is due to noticeable sales differences in larger stores as opposed to smaller stores. WFM locates these newer stores in upscale areas of urban metropolitan centers and high-traffic shopping locations. Not all WFMs are isolated structures; some are located in strip malls. WFM offers a larger selection of natural and organic foods than any other grocery store. WFMs marketing expenditure is extremely small. They spend a measly 0.5% of their revenues on advertising. Their chief marketing strategy relies on word-of-mouth. WFM strives to meet or exceed customer expectations. This is so customers receive competent, knowledgeable, and friendly service and become advocates of WFM. The employees here have a decentralized team approach for store operations. This is so some personnel, merchandising, and operating

Over the past few decades, the diet and health food industry has become big business. Americans, along with people in many other countries, have become more educated about the benefits of exercising regularly and eating healthy. Whole Foods Market is pursuing a business strategy that strives to offer products that are of the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and natural foods possible (Whole Foods Market,