The Threat Of New Entrants

forces. Retaliation by incumbent competitors is an important element in determining the threat of new entry. Specifically, Whole Foods faces a threat from conventional supermarkets and mass merchandisers who may move to carry organic products within their stores.

The barrier to enter Biotechnology industry is high. The first barrier is the extensive requirements in funding coming from heavy expenditures in R&D, along with the risk of little to no returns or even heavy losses if the drug fails to reach the market. Regulatory environment partly contributes to the barrier as the new drug approval process can be time-consuming with relatively 89% of failure to pass through. The second barrier is specialization. Companies with knowledge in obscure diseases will enjoy low threat of new entrant for there are few experts in the field.

Stiff competition within the industry would be one of the key threats that Whole Foods will face. Strong competitors, coupled with grocery stores that have incorporated natural food sections into the stores, have made it more challenging for Whole Foods to maintain its pole position in the market. As the market for organic foods expands rapidly, mainstream supermarkets are also competing for a slice of the pie. Strict government regulations and the lack of prime locations have made it more

One of the biggest external environmental threats against Whole Foods is increases in domestic competition. At its inception Whole Foods was one of the only providers of organic foods. However now there are many rivals who have taken apart of this ever going interest in our society for better living. Stores such as Wal-Mart and Target have joined the bandwagon of providing their customers with organic foods. With many stores now offering organic foods this has put a dent in the availability of organic foods in other words has shorten the supply of organic foods to Whole Foods. Another external environmental threat was the economy. When the economy went down during the recession many people had to make tough choices when it came to their finances and one of the biggest things that were changed was the amount that they spent on groceries. Many people just simply deemed natural organic foods as being expensive and not a necessity. A major opportunity that Whole Foods have embraced was that during the recession Whole Foods recognized that they need to make adjustments decrease the overall prices. Another major opportunity that they need to embrace is marketing the necessity of whole organic foods. Letting people know that eating right is vital to

Whole Foods Market is probably the world leader in retailing natural and organic foods, with over 433 stores in North America and the United Kingdom (Whole Foodsmarket.com). With a commitment to provide the highest quality of natural and organic foods at competitive prices; they steadily continue to expand globally. This paper will provide some insight on the advantages and disadvantages of perhaps why we should invest in this company’s stock.

Whole Foods is a retailer that specializes in organic foods and it has done an excellent job of determining its target market and how to position itself. Instead of going head to head with large food retailers such as Wal-Mart, Whole Foods has found a niche market that works perfectly for itself. This niche market is one that prides itself on being health conscious and environmentally responsible and Whole Foods has done a great job of positioning itself in the same way through its environmentally safe actions and its use of the local community to stock its stores. However, as Whole Foods grows and expands, a person has to wonder if the company will be able to maintain this same position or will have to make

The natural and organic food industry are in no doubt the most dynamic and diverse in recent years; traditional supermarket chains such as Kroger Company, Costco, and Wal-Mart have also begun undertaking in the natural and organic food market offering competitive prices (Sonya Bells, Whole Foods Market after Fiscal 2015: the Whole Story, marketrealist.com). However, to me, the two brands that resonate the most in this service sector, at least locally here in Columbus, Ohio are Whole Foods Market, Inc and Trader Joe's.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: A producing industry requires raw materials - labour, components, and other supplies. This requirement leads to buyer-supplier relationships between the industry and the firms that provide it the raw materials used to create products. Suppliers, if powerful, can exert an influence on the producing industry, such as selling raw materials at a high price to capture some of the industry's profits. Tesco maintains direct professional business relationships with all their suppliers of organic food and non-food product worldwide. They also conduct supplier viewpoint surveys to find out what their suppliers think of Tesco.

This situation makes Whole Foods vulnerable to business cycles that affect United States. Like noted during the 2008 economic meltdown, the food industry in the US was highly affected and the sales decline by over 50 percent. Sales decline resulted in loss of jobs, salary cuts and the rise of unemployment leading to the decline of income. As the US organic and natural foods industry is high concentrated with rival firms such as Costco, Stop N’ Shop, Target, Traders Joe’s and Sam’s Club, Wild Harvest, Wal-Mart and Safeway (Harasta, & Hoffman, 2013), Whole Foods should venture into foreign markets and in particular Europe. An expansion in Europe offers vast prospective growth because of its large population. In addition, the Europe organic food market is more sophisticated than that of the US in reference to public acceptance and suppliers. In Europe, the target should be based on area demographics: the location with 40 percent or more people because they are probable of having more nutritional knowledge. (Harasta, & Hoffman,

Whole Foods’ incredible rise over the past 34 years serves as evidence of their considerable ability to create a strategy and successfully execute it. Whole Foods differentiated itself by becoming the first Certified Organic grocer in the United States (1) and has stuck to the strategy of selling consumers organic and natural products. The successful execution of this strategy has allowed them to charge a premium for their products giving them higher net margins than nearly all of their competitors. (2) Their ability to earn such premiums has attracted the attention of industry incumbents who are now attempting to lure the increasingly health-conscious consumer with their own expanded offerings of organic and natural foods. For Whole Foods Market to retain their ability to earn such impressive premiums and sustain their growth they will have to execute on their strategy with even greater precision. “No firm can succeed for long without an intense focus on execution. Average executors are average performers, and poor executors risk decline and failure.” (3)

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)

Competitors: The list of competitors for Whole Foods keeps on increasing, most grocery stores are starting to introduce a section of organic/healthy foods section at their store, as a result of which this could begin to influence Whole Foods customer base.

Supermarkets are potentially a huge market for organic yogurt, considering 97% of all yogurts were purchased through this channel and 46% of organic food consumers shop at supermarkets. Two natural food companies have already entered supermarkets and in doing so have increased their revenues by over 200%. Executing a first mover strategy would be crucial if this plan were to be implemented in order to gain brand equity from new consumers who are transitioning into the organic food market. Furthermore, because price inhibits 58% of consumers from buying organic products, Natureview would have to execute

Whole Foods Market was founded 1980 in Austin, Texas by three businessmen who felt that the natural food industry was ready for a supermarket setup. Two separate individual companies, Safer Way Natural Foods and Clarksville Natural Grocery, formed Whole Foods Market. After 27 years of operation, the company has come a long way. Today Whole Foods Market is the leading retailer of natural and organic foods, with 194 stores/locations in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada (wholefoodsmarket.com). The company has been in the Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for" every year since the list was made up in 1998 (2007 ranked 5th). The cofounder and CEO, John

The grocery industry is highly fragmented, with a multitude of strong regional players (Safeway, Publix, Kroeger, Wegmans, etc.). The largest grocery retailer in the United States is Wal-Mart, with an estimated 33% share. Other major retailers are targeting this segment of the industry, focused on a relatively narrow selection of key commodity foods at relatively low prices (Forbes, 2011). Whole Foods competes in a segment occupied by differentiated grocery players including Trader Joe's, Fresh Market and a highly fragmented selection of local and regional upscale and health-conscious grocery stores. The big players in the industry usually carry ranges of organic and natural products as well, siphoning off some business from Whole Foods. As Whole Foods grows, it comes into competition with mainstream grocery retailers more frequently (McLaughlin & Martin, 2009).