Unit 3 Assignment 1 Whole Foods Business Strategy

Companies leadership should try to remain neutral or not publicly voice their opinions when it comes to potentially contentious topics. By not publicly voicing their opinions they can avoid retaliation from customers.

With Apple the Growth has been substantial and it can be stated that the Products have reached a maturity stage and hence there is a chance of decline. This has also been evidenced to certain extent as Samsung has taken over as the market leader in the mobile phone segment. The emergence of cheaper brands like Lenovo etc has also been a challenge for IT products of Apple. However it is also true that Apple has always focussed on consumer trends and demands and thus has been capable of avoiding the decline stages. Further market development and diversification strategies have been suitably implemented

A weakness that Whole Foods have is their reputation. A reputation for a grocer is key to its survival and they have the reputation of being very expensive or some call it “whole paycheck.”

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.

As with other superstores, Whole Foods offers a variety of products to their customers. These products include organic and natural foods of all sorts, body care items, and household care items (“Grocery”, n.d.). As with other grocery stores, these products are organized based on the category they fall into, as well as if they fit a certain dietary requirement (e.g. dairy, meat, cleaning products, vegan, gluten-free, etc.). The output efficiency is measured as with most companies by the profit brought in by each division. This past year (2013), sales improved to $1.29B from $1.17B in 2012, net profit improved from $466K to $551K with the net profit ratio improving from 3.98% to 4.26% (Yahoo! Finance, 2014). Additionally, Whole Foods’ return on assets improved to 4.26% from 3.98% in 2012 (Yahoo! Finance, 2014). All of these numbers show that Whole Foods is capitalizing on its momentum and continuing the success they’ve had in previous years. Another performance

International Market: Whole Foods is only in 2 other countries, UK and Canada. They always have the option of looking into some of the world’s faster growing markets or even the fact that they could look into expanding throughout UK and Canada.

The team approach promoted strong corporate culture and a work environment where team members could flourish, build a career, and reach their highest potential. Team members are motivated and inspired by Whole Foods’ strategic vision. The process for bringing in a new team member was thorough and the whole team at a store is involved. Team leaders at each store receive a salary and a possible bonus based on EVA (Economic Value Added), a system Whole Foods used to measure performance. In 2004, 86% of employees said they enjoyed their job and 82% felt empowered to do their best work at Whole Foods Markets. Whole Foods Markets offered gain-sharing programs to reward team members according to the store’s contribution to Whole Foods operating profit (additional 5-7% of team members wages). Whole Foods encouraged stock ownership through three programs: A team member stock option plan (based on job performance and length of time employed at Whole Foods), a team member stock purchase plan (based on purchasing stock at 95% of market price), and a team member 401 (k) plan. To maintain high customer service all team members are continuously evaluated and take place in competitions against other Whole Foods Markets in that region. In 2007, around 750 team members were on the EVA-based incentive compensation program. EVA calculations were used to measure profitability and encouraged and motivated team members to succeed.

The business model that was made for the rescission in my opinion might not work for the upcoming long term events. Whole Foods is now facing a lot of competitors that are trying to consume and sell more organic and natural products. If those competitors sell their products at a lower value than Whole Foods, some adjustment will have to be made. Whole Foods will have to lower their price which means a lower profit in the overall company. Just a small reduction of prices can create big change for the company as a whole.

The question is whether Apple strategy will continue proving efficiently innovative. Historically Apple suffered of some kind of a crisis every decade. Another key issue is the strong focus on the development of the

Competitors are able to offer cheaper items by selling private brands. Whole foods can focus on their private brand

From a strategic perspective, I believe that Whole Foods is executing at an extremely high level. Currently, Whole Foods is the market leader in its niche (organic food). Whole Foods has an international presence while also boasting some of the largest shop sizes compared that of its rivals. This allows for products from all over the world to be stored on their shelves while also allowing for more exotic displays to show off their products. Profits have “grown at a compound average rate of 30.4 percent” and it also has one of the strongest social media presences all of retailers in the world.

Whole Foods' utilizes a differentiated strategy, focused on organic and natural foods. This distinguishes them from mainstream grocery competitors, and puts them into competition with other specialized grocery outlets (Urani, 2008). This differentiation, combined with more traditional grocery industry size and operations, gives the company an advantage over most of its competitors.

For this Global Marketing Foreign Market Entry and Marketing Plan, we will be expanding the Whole Foods Market into Italy. Whole Foods Market is considered to be a higher end, more organic store with higher priced products than other markets in the United States. The motto of the brand is “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store” (Whole Foods Market History, 2016). They are concerned with what their customers are eating and overall health, so they offer so many products that are both high quality and healthy.

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

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.