Essay about Trader Joes

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 has great workforce management practices and its employees enjoy what they do. They have cheerful attitudes and are more than willing to assist customers with anything in the store. Trader Joe’s employees are engaged in conversation with the customers that shop in the store and make the customers aware of any new or exciting products from them to try. The positive behavior of these employees is due to the compensation and benefits each employee receives, which is far more competitive than other grocery food stores. Trader Joe’s has also created an environment where employees feel valued and know their opinions matter to the growth of the

Whole Foods Market started off as being Safer Way natural grocery store in 1978. However they were not

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 chief executives have been careful in their expanding of the brand to more geographic locations, and they must continue to seek out their target market of “intelligent, educated, inquisitive individuals” and settle around them.

Trader Joe's faces several threats to its business, as competitors try to invade the company’s niche and attempt to imitate the company’s core strategies. The supermarket industry itself faces a major threat, as larger chains such as grocery retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco have begun to open small-format stores that mimic the Trader Joe's approach. This invasion results in additional cost pressure for incumbents like Trader Joe’s, which had to let go employees in order to become more cost competitive.

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.

“At Trader Joe's, our mission is to bring our customers the best food and beverage values and the information to make informed buying decisions. There are more than 2000 unique grocery items in our label, all at honest everyday low prices. We work hard at buying things right: Our buyers travel the world searching for new items and we work with a variety of suppliers who make

3. What are the main threats to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage? Is their advantage sustainable?

Research Question: What do the blogs and current news reports say? Is Trader Joe’s management benchmark for others to follow? In what areas relevant to Organizational Behavior does the firm have an edge on the competition?

Trader Joe’s occupies a niche position in the grocery market by providing natural, organic and eclectic selection of wines, frozen food, prepared food and groceries at everyday low prices. They have a small area format with limited products which has put them in the top rank for sales per square feet.

In what ways does Trader Joe’s demonstrate the importance of each responsibility in the management process- planning, organizing, leading and controlling? They have created their own University for future leaders. By controlling who they promote, only within the company, and planning room for advancement from the day you become an employee shows the value they take in their staff. For example, imagine you start as a cashier and it’s your first day on the job. It can bring great comfort knowing that your manager started in exactly the same role. Not only provides management with the ability to relate to their employees but also the employees to look to the manager’s leadership and mentoring for success.

Joe Coulombe started Trader Joe’s in 1967. Traded Joe’s can be characterized as a low cost, high quality grocery store. Eighty percent private label product mix, expanding its target markets, keeping costs down, and extremely effective marketing powers Trader Joe’s increase popularity. Since 2002, the market value of private food label has risen twelve percent (Datamonitor, 2008). This essay

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

In 1883 Bernard (Barney) Kroger invested 372 dollars that consisted of his life savings to open the first ‘Kroger’ grocery. That first store, located at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati, would soon turn into the giant retail chain that consists of nearly 2,500 stores all over the country and most recently produced sales of over 76 billion dollars. Barney Kroger was revolutionary in the formation of the modern grocery, in that he was the first grocer to have his own bakery, as well as selling meat and other groceries all under one roof. Kroger was also the first to manufacture the products that he in turn sold in his own store. This was the beginning of what is today one of the largest food manufacturing companies in America.