Wholefoodsmarket's Core Values

Long Term Goal: Valuable knowledge to how both organizations work that will enable both marketing groups on integrate and provide excellent marketing advice, on behalf of Amazon and Whole Foods.

Mackey believes “making high profits is the means to the end of fulfilling Whole Foods’ core business mission” (Rae & Wong, 2012, p. 152). Mackey says Whole Foods wants to better the world through quality products, but understands this is only possible if Whole Foods is a highly profitable corporation. This is such a reputable view of corporate responsibility and only heightens my respect for the Whole Foods corporation as well as John Mackey. The world needs more corporations such as Whole Foods in rode to be a better-rounded, sustainable world.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) lives through their motto of “Whole Food, Whole People, Whole Planet.” WFM opened their first store in Austin, Texas with 19 employees in 1980. Today, WFM has 311 stores in the US, Canada and the UK, and employs more than 72,700 employees. Whole Foods Market is one of the largest natural and organic food retailers in North America. WFM has grown to its size today mostly through mergers and acquisitions of such brands as Bread and Circus and Natures Heartland. In 2011 and 2012 Whole Foods Market was added to the Fortune 100 “Best Places to Work” list. Fortune Magazine (2012)

Each location is responsible for its own network and distribution. All products are sourced locally. WFM caters to the needs of its local market. WFM uses a team approach—each store is a team, each department within a store is a team, and each employee is a member of a team. Each location is responsible for their critical decision making, marketing activities and training of employees. WFM is certified organic and believes that it can cultivate customer loyalty by emphasizing the benefits of organic foods. Whole Foods Market is profit oriented—operating under the belief that everyone benefits from profits—team members profit from employment opportunities, customers profit by the in-store experience that profits provide, and shareholders enjoy large dividends derived from company revenue. Whole Foods feels that its customers know the value of its products; therefore the retailer is not focused on lowering prices to increase its competitive advantage. WFM relies on buzz marketing generated by its customers. (The Winning Ways of Whole Foods,

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

Barbara Farfan (n.d.) explains that, “Whole Foods Core Values define how Whole Foods leaders and employees interact with their products, customers, employee team, shareholders, communities, suppliers, and align everyone behind the mission of improving health in general.” For example, Whole Foods believes in satisfying their consumers by selling the highest quality of natural and organic products obtainable. The company strives to maintain the highest standards of quality, not only in the products they offer but in supporting excellence in the development their employees, communities, and the environment. Whole Foods direct core values as listed on the company website (2015 Whole Foods Market IP. L.P.), also

Trust: Whole Foods’ brand recognition carries a lot of value to it, Whole Foods is trusted for its fair trade and organic offerings along with its treatment of their employees has garnered them a trust that bring shoppers back, making them feel good about spending more per item then other grocers.

Satisfy and Delight customers are the most important core value of Whole Foods. Why is this so important? Reputation! One thing the company has over competitors is their reputation. All of the products in the store are guaranteed 100% satisfaction. This shows customers that their product is the best on the market. Customer Service goes a long way with reputation. For example when a customer wants to know where to find a product: Team members would take the customer to the product and on the way making conversation or answering questions. They are only one of the few store chains that provide natural and organic products, which makes their big name more recognizable. They offer a unique product that is demanded by the public.

The origin of Whole Foods Market began as a small natural food store under the name Safer Way Natural Foods in Austin, Texas, in 1980. As interest in the natural food movement quickly grew, Safer Way soon merged with another local natural grocer. This union was called Whole Foods Market (“Newsroom,” 2015). Though the company started with a mere 19 employees, attraction to this new idea grew rapidly, and it was not long before the company began to build a chain of stores through several acquisitions. Due to the increased interest in natural foods nationwide and very low competition at the time, Whole Foods Market began acquiring food stores all over the nation throughout the 1990s. By 2004, the company had expanded internationally to Canada and the UK “Newsroom,” 2015). Today the company has 414 stores in the US, Canada, and United Kingdom, and approximately 88,000 team members (“Newsroom,” 2015).

The core values that make up Whole Foods are the sole of the company. They express the purpose of the business, which is not only to make profit, but to create value for all of the major stakeholders. Selling the utmost quality natural and organic products available which includes having a passion for food and having the highest quality standards. Satisfying and delighting our customers through extraordinary customer service, education, meaningful value, and inviting

Ms. Singh has been working for the company for a little over four years she revealed. When questioned about the mission of Whole Foods as it pertained to her store and she replied that they are very good to her and they act as family towards one another. The employee was asked one other question in regards to the company’s position on unionized labor and she replied no one that she knows in her store wants to be in a union and that they like things just fine. Wanda Moss said she felt a defensive spirit as “G” responded. Nonetheless Ms. Moss continued to check out with her items and thanked the young lady for her time.

Out of the seven moral principles dignity of human life, autonomy, honesty, loyalty, fairness, humaneness, and he common good. “…moral ideas are among the influences that affect the formulation and operation of objectives and obligations, including the demands of ethical behavior and social convention, they can be quite critical in terms of impact on the world of economics and business” (Sen, 1997). There is no doubt, that Whole Foods go all-out to accomplish all these principles. Whole Foods communication is forthright and truthful to all its stakeholders, internal and external. Honesty can only be received when it is given. Everyone is held responsible for the organization, all in all they hold their employees accountable for their performance.

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.

Do Whole Foods Market's core values as presented in case exhibit 3 really matter? Are they "real" or just cosmetic window dressing? What evidence can you cite to support your answer? Have Whole Foods' core values contributed to the company's success? Why or why not?