Weight Watchers Case

Weight Watchers has been around for almost fifty years and has seen some success in helping people lose weight. The need to revamp their entire program does show signs that perhaps this program was not showing the ability to keep participants maintaining the weight loss on the long-term scale as that they promise. A complete Weight Watchers Points Plus review shows that the program does show some great improvement from their older version.

The range of competitors within the overall industry include chain and independent supermarkets (Krogers, Safeway, others); mass merchandisers and super centers (Wal-mart,Target); convenience stores; wholesale clubs (Sam’s); restaurants and fast food chains andnatural food stores (Whole Foods, Wild Oats

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the food industry was struggling with weak sales and low inflation which caused waves of consolidation among some of the largest firms in the industry. In 1998 General Mills studied areas of potential growth and value creation for their company which lead to small acquisitions of other firms. Looking to further grow their company, in December 2000, management of General Mills made a recommendation to its shareholders that they authorize the creation of more shares of common stock and approve a proposal for the company to acquire Pillsbury Company, a producer of baked goods, from Diageo PLC.

Weight Watchers is an excellent program to aid in weight loss and healthy eating. It is an easy, healthy, and effective method for losing weight and eating correctly. Weight Watchers has based their program on a point system, making it easy to follow by counting points assigned to foods. It promotes healthy eating habits by regulating serving sizes, which are set by the United States Department of Agriculture. In addition to promoting healthy eating habits, it offers support for people who might need it. The support, along with the eating plan, helps dieters lose weight and eat healthy.

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

Thirdly, Trader Joe’s stores are small and located in non-prime locations, which holds fixed operating costs at bay. Furthermore, the company is able to generate the industry’s highest sales per square feet in its small sized stores. In an effort to diversify from its competitors, Trader Joe’s also relies on a non-traditional marketing strategy. Completely neglecting conventional marketing techniques like commercials or promotional offers, the company focuses on unique and store specific in-store marketing with its newsletter and the occasional radio ad being its major means of communication with its customers. The Trader Joe’s brand with its vast fan base is naturally another part of the company’s competitive advantage.

One of the questions that I was asking myself before I read any of the articles was if the program works for people who are on certain diets, for example vegan or vegetarian. According to Weight Watchers Diet Review: Count Points for Weight Loss, it states that the way the program is set up, using daily SmartPoints allow one to still use the program given certain restrictions (Asp, K. A., & Nazario, B., MD.) In all of the sources found pertaining to the Weight Watchers Program, the authors provides some kind of evidence, biased or unbiased, of how the Weight Watchers program does help people lose weight.

My nutritional health has been a very important part of my life since 2001 when I discovered I have Crohn’s disease. The food I consume affects my life in serious and immediate ways. Throughout this course I have learned various ways to help improve my dieting and better my overall health with different foods, ways of cooking foods, and supplements to help provide nutrients my body needs. Having Crohn’s disease can often make eating fruits and vegetable very painful. Although I have a chronic illness, I plan to find a pain free way to incorporate more fruits, vegetables, and

Weight Watchers was designed so that people can take charge of their lives and their weight without having to suffer with horrible tasting food or having a constant rumbling stomach. Not only does it help people lose weight but it helps them be conscious about what they eat and how healthy something really is. Once they start to see pounds shedding off and their waist size shrinking, they will begin to eat better and change their life styles. This is not just a diet for when someone is over weight. This is a diet for a life time. It will continue to help a person achieve and maintain a healthy weight without having to cut out some of their favorite foods, fattening or not. Weight Watchers has activity points just like they do regular food point. This also comes with a nifty slider so that when someone goes to the gym or even goes for a walk, they can calculate how intense it was to how long they participated in this activity for and gain activity points which give people all the more motivation to get out there and be active. They can then turn around and trade these points in for food points.

Identify market structure Weight Watchers is a company that has been around for the last 50 years and has been developing their brand of giving out weight loss services and products that make them a leading weight management service all over the world. Weight Watchers, without a doubt the largest single player in the highly disjointed industry has over 45 years of industry experience and like many of its competitors, is constantly changing its core program so as to become more useable to and petition to a lot of its members. Since November 2010, it appears that the company has been able to hit a marketing sweet spot that will lead them to a long term period of profitability that will keep rising. Weight Watchers Food Co. is revising their trade marketing structure to a big test this year with the start of their new strategy which involved the "Points Plus program," marketing plan (Denos, 2009). This will be part of their first major trade and consumer advertising. This is something to take advantage of especially since people are in the diet season. The company is reorganizing in order to set parallel roles for consumer and trade promotions managers and likewise bringing down the wall that divides marketing and sales. The change in this marketing strategy is the first key step in a procedure aimed at re-generating the company's sales

The greatest disadvantage of the food industry is unhealthy eating. This is derived from high amounts of sodium which can be found in most fast food industries. The manner in which these foods are cooked also plays a pivotal role in the unhealthy aspects of certain menu items. Ingredients which are not understood by consumers who are becoming more health conscious has

They also decreased the prices of healthy foods to encourage customer to purchase them. Wal-Mart also developed a seal to place on healthier foods with nutrition information rating the levels of sodium, fat, and sugar content (“Paymar Communications”, 2010). The leading factor in Wal-Mart taking this initiative was to reach customers with an interest in a healthy lifestyle. With obesity on the rise across the nation people are becoming more conscious about what they eat and offering healthier foods, organic products, and enhanced labels on the foods will give the customer more options to choose from within the store. By reducing the prices of these healthy products Wal-Mart can increase their customer base, specifically those with an interest in a pursuing a healthy life style. Additionally this will ensure Wal-Mart is leading their competition and could be the benchmark for such companies as Target, K-Mart, Sears, and Costco. The factors influencing the organizations strategies are contingent on the need, not only of the customers, but also Wal-Mart’s increase in sales and profitability. Wal-Mart wants to ensure they not only have healthy customers but also that the organization will garner major gains in sales from these changes. The “Paymar Communications” (2010) website also states that through forging these initiatives, Wal-Mart has figured out a formula to be a good corporate citizen, give consumers superior bargains and still make tons of money; $14.3 billion in

Weight Watchers is facing the issue of increased competition and cost concerns with a large majority of the population impacted in some fashion by the economic downturn. In addition they have to overcome the stigma of being viewed as the

Purchasing decisions made by customers regarding weight management is biased and can easily be affected by many different things. Weight Watchers’ competition is anything that is perceived to be more effective or a more favorable weight management system. This industry is contingent on the customer demands, based on the popular appeal of the latest and greatest programs.

Weight Watchers has faced a number of issues in the past several years, many of which are highlighted in the case study for this assignment. The company was able to reach a financial high point earlier this decade in 2011 when it recorded a record breaking 1.8 billion in revenues. However, the company’s finances have slowly dwindled ever since then, culminating in losses for seven straight quarters and low stock prices at the beginning of 2015. The core of the problems it was facing were relatively straightforward. The weight loss industry was changing, and Weight Watchers was having difficult changing along with it. Specifically, the company had troubles modernizing its business model to account for the digital age as represented by increasing online options for weight loss. This fact was compounded by the reality that there was greater competition, including that from organizations whose primary business was to capitalize on digital technology to attract customers. Technologies such as mobile devices, mobile applications, cloud computing, and social media had made considerable strides in the way that people were monitoring and attempting to lose weight. Weight Watchers, however, had had only marginal success using these technologies, and faced the undesirable situation in which its methods were becoming rapidly outdated.