A Comparison Of Trader Joe's And Whole Foods

ACC 300 FSA Project Ratio Analysis of The Kroger Co. and Whole Foods Market, Inc. TEAM Jake Eriksen (002) Brycen Goldstein (002) 16 Ross Wright (001) Nicolas Kim Omar Harb (001) (002) Kroger The Kroger Co. (referred to as Kroger) is a large grocery chain audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

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.

Upon entering the competitive work field, it is important to do research to find out if an employer may be the right fit. Seeking employment can be tricky if one is not aware of what to look for and how the company can also benefit him/her. Employers and employees need to have a working relationship where there is a mutual gain for both parties. Employers seek motivated and productive employees whereas employees seek financial means for sustainability and a positive working environment. The working relationship helps ensure success for both parties as long as the relationship thrives in a positive direction. Two major supermarkets that take the lead in positive and gainful employment are Publix and Whole Foods. While Publix and Whole Foods are both strong corporations, Publix outshines Whole Foods when it comes to customer service and employee satisfaction. Both competitors are known for their high quality products that attract a lot of consumers daily, but from a potential employee perspective Publix is the best employer to work for. Both companies offer potential prospects in terms of revenue analysis, competition, benefits, and diversity.

Every retail location carries a variety of products that distinguishes it from other stores in the same chain. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to achieve economies of scale. Supply Chain Mackey describes his consumers as being “part of a cult”. Whole Foods believes that the company’s emphasis on perishables and locally-sourced produce differentiates their stores from run-of-the-mill supermarkets and attracts loyal and devoted customers. However, “fresh produce” is one of the most challenging product categories to operate due to limited product shelf life and high cost of spoilage. Whole Foods has tried to circumvent most of the problems inherent in supplying fresh produce to its stores by sourcing locally and having short and flexible supply chains. In the case of fruits and vegetables, Whole Foods has buying relationships with local farmers who supply the store with seasonal produce. Thus, if one farmer is unable to produce a sufficient amount of yellow corn or heirloom tomatoes, the shortfall can be made up by another farmer. Although challenging to perfect, these short supply chains are agile and difficult for other big retailers to duplicate.

Comparing inventory turnover is extremely crucial especially for the Grocery industry where it all comes down on how fast you sell your inventory. Every year since 2005, Whole food’s inventory

[6] See Appendix B for more about the Whole Foods Foundation. As a result of the green movement, Whole Foods has added the 3R’s to their green mission: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.[7] See Appendix C for more about the Whole Foods green movement.

They only stock about 4,000 SKUs in their small locations; this is a business strategy resulting in the retailer selling an estimated $1,750 in merchandise per square foot, more than double Whole Foods’ (Kowitt). Additionally, produce is priced per unit at Trader Joe’s, while Whole Foods sells by the pound. Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s “organic” options generally run about $1-2 more expensive than their “regular,” non-organic products. Whole Foods also offers more national brands, which are pricier than private label brands.

At first glance, these seem to be two companies with similar goals and direction. They sell organic foods and appeal to a certain niche of customer. They both pride themselves on customer satisfaction, but their approach is totally different. Trader Joe’s is mainly focused on providing the best possible product while Whole Foods is deeply involved in Community Social Responsibility. They are both dedicated to supporting local producers and try to purchase only from them if possible. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods Market have similar appearances but have different mission statements.

This image event will take place at a Trader Joes grocery store located in Bethesda Maryland; just off of Wisconsin Ave tucked into a small strip mall. Trader Joes is a grocery store that values their costumers and therefore the food that they offer to sell to them. Most, if not all the food available at your local Trader Joes will not contain or use GMOs, which is very important due to the negative effects it has proven to cause on peoples health down the line. The ultimate mission here, is to create an impact on the costumers by putting huge, but false GMO labels on every item sold at the store, and see how many people buy their food regardless of the fact that its explicitly saying there are GMOs in the food you are willing to purchase.

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).

One of the appeals of working for Whole Foods is knowing the value that is placed on their employees. Employees are considered an interquel part of the corporation. Whole foods strives to hire good people, provide continued training, offers competitive wages, benefits, educational opportunities and they value teamwork (Cheretis & Mujtaba, 2014). Kreitner & Kinicki (2013) reports that Whole Foods wants to see their employees flourish and as a result it will make for a win win situation for the employee and the company.

The government doesn’t subsidies for organic foods, so farmers get less support to produce organic foods.

There is much speculation about whether Whole Foods has done enough to shed its Whole Paycheck reputation in order to remain competitive in the current food retailing industry. Consumer demand has transformed what originally was a natural and organic food retailer – a niche market – into the fastest growing U.S. food seller (Gamble, Peteraf, & Thompson, 2017). Whole Foods original strategy was to provide the highest quality product at the most competitive prices possible. However in 2007-08, following the recession, they adapted their strategy and began to focus on value and controlling cost. When Whole Foods opened they used a focused differentiation strategy, concentrating on a narrow buyer market and meeting the needs of very specific customer base (Gamble et al., 2017). Realizing that their strategy was not necessarily sustainable in the long-term, they adjusted their strategy and began to appeal to a broader customer base with a focus on quality and value.

The appraisal of Whole Foods Markets competitive resources and capabilities yields a clear explanation as to why their currently known as the industry leader of organic foods sales. Those assets discussed separately below will help guide future strategic recommendations.

Comparison and analysis are conducted of eight supermarket and one retail chains in Jacksonville, Fl. A total of nine stores were under evaluation, two of are Publix Supermarkets in two separate locations. Publix being the largest retail supermarket is an employee owned chain. Analysis of the two separate Publix locations in different economic areas are conducted to determine if economic or income demographic plays different roles and responsibilities. We also investigated if there were different behavioral styles portrayed during customer service exchanges. We notice the variety of supermarkets under Mystery Market Mom’s review varies from “bargain, mid-range, and gourmet” markets.