Whole Foods Case Study

Whole Foods Market is one of the biggest organic and natural whole food suppliers in the world. They provide a wide variety of select foods that are without hormones or antibiotics and are stamped with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s stamp of approval. They value the fact that they can provide people with access to healthy food and be identified with being socially and environmentally responsible.

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

All in all, Whole Foods Market Inc. is the most influential organic food retailer in the word. It built its motifs centered around its social responsibilities. The company’s green mission, Whole Foundations, and Whole Trade Guarantee showcase its commitment and reslince in supporting and bettering the world’s community busing food as the

* Whole Foods Market was founded in 1980 working with natural and healthy foods in Austin, Texas; it’s one of the world’s largest of natural and organic foods supermarkets. In 2009, the sales total $8 billion and had 289 stores in the U.S. The Whole Foods Market plans to come up with strategies to help improve the company but to do so understanding the core values plays a major role in the company’s planning. The strategies

Whole Foods Market, Inc. has long been admired as an innovative company with quality standards, a devotion to community and environmental responsiveness, a healthy growth model and highly-regarded employment practices. However, the company has faced recent difficulties as a result of the economic recession, increasing competition, and complications from acquisitions. To revitalize the company from historical lows in its toughest year in history, Whole Foods Market must reassess its costs, refocus its expansion strategies, and promote its brand to compete for the diminishing consumer spending dollar.

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.

Whole Foods is a supermarket that has successfully become the leader in the organic food segment of the grocery industry. While traditional markets have low brand loyalty and recognition, Whole Foods has focused almost entirely on its brand image, causing their strategy to be one of differentiation over cost leadership. Whole Foods is known as being far more expensive than other chains, due to this brand recognition. In their press release for the Q4 2014 results, they describe their vision and sum up what helps them develop that brand recognition. “We hold the idea of “food” to a higher standard, banning more than 75 ingredients commonly found in other stores, and we believe our unparalleled quality standards

Whole Foods Market, Inc, is an Austin, Texas based foods grocery that has the finest natural and organic food available, including produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, beer, wine, cheese; in addition to whole body, floral, pet products, and household products. Whole Foods is among the most profitable health food retailers in the United States. The rapid growth and market success has much to do with having remained a uniquely mission-driven company, highly selective about what they sell, dedicated to their core values, stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture.

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)

1.2 Executive Summary Whole Foods Market opened its doors in 1980 in the city of Austin Texas. The idea was clear Whole Foods Market wanted to sell natural and organic products, and with only 19 people working for Whole Foods Market, they were launched into the adventure of opened a supermarket focusing only on natural products regardless of price. One of the main reasons for Whole Foods Market is to have the best supermarkets, with the widest range of organic and natural products, while the goal is to have international presence as a brand in the natural products of higher quality. In a short time the chain of Whole Foods Market has had a most important growth in the supermarket industry in terms of natural and organic products.

Whole Foods Market, INC (ticker: WFM) one of the main leaders in supermarket/grocery industry. The company opened its first store in 1980 in Austin, Texas and it was among few supermarkets that were providing natural products. (1) Whole Foods Market was the first store to emphasis on organic food with a clear mission to be a provider of products with the highest quality. Whole Foods started expanding into different states across United States by mergers and acquisitions. Their first international expansion was into Canada in 2002, followed by and acquisition of seven Fresh & Wild stores in United Kingdom in 2004 which was the largest chain of organic grocery stores. (2) In order to lock their strong presence Whole Foods needed to make sure that their mission is heard and that they are faithful to their values. They are known for the highest quality products, before a product is available for purchase in stores it first goes through multiple steps of quality control and only when the requirements are met, the product makes it way to shelves. In order to satisfy organic standard, products need USDA approval, which prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms, pesticides, use of antibiotics or growth hormones in livestock. (3) Whole Foods is an environmentally sustainable, an example would be that they encourage their shoppers to either reuse shopping bags or they provide paper bags that are recyclable, they also donate good amount of money for environmental

Whole Foods Market (WFM) was founded in 1980 as a single local grocery store by John Mackey for natural and health foods. By 1991, WFM had 10 up-and-running stores with revenues of about $92.5 million in United States Dollars (USD), and a net income of about $1.6 million in USD. In 1992 WFM became a publicly traded company with its stock trading on the NASDAQ. By 2006 Whole Foods Market had progressed into the world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarket. As of September 2007 WFM has 276 stores up-and-running. 263 of the stores are located throughout 37 of the U.S. and the District of Columbia. 7 of the stores are in Canada and 6 in the U.K.

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.

Over the past few decades, Americans have become far more conscious of the production process and nutritional value of the foods they consume. Founded in 1980 in Austin, Texas, Whole Foods Market is an international supermarket chain that specializes in organic foods and products. As early as 1984, Whole Foods began expanding across the South and, soon afterwards, expanded to major cities around the U.S. with new stores and strategic acquisitions. Although organic grocers and health stores existed prior to Whole Foods’ founding, founder and CEO John Mackey was the first to scale such a store to national—and later international—heights, with over 430 stores to date. Whole Foods’ position as the first market player, as well as its high

Whole Foods Market remains uniquely mission driven: The Company is highly selective about what they sell, dedicated to stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture. The Company believes in a virtuous circle entwining the food chain. Not only pursuing ensure diversity and high level quality, also focus on national agricultural development.