Whole Foods Business Analysis

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

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

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)

In response to your request for a thorough analysis of the strategic position of Whole Foods Markets, and the industry in which it operates, an analysis has been performed and the results can be found below. In conclusion, a recommendation for Whole Foods Markets, based on the analysis, will be given.

Trader Joe’s operates over 340 stores in 9 states were they “buy direct from suppliers whenever possible, bargain hard to get the best prices and then pass the savings on to the customer” (Trader Joe’s, 2013, para. 4). Whole Food’s Market is the “world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with more than 360 stores in North America and the United Kingdom” (Whole Food, 2013, para 2). Trader Joe’s and Whole Food’s Market have managed to take original ideas and spread them throughout the nation to many different customers. Although they differ not only in the technique in which they decide to bring products to their customers but also in term of inventory management and supply chain organization. These two companies have become so successful in my opinion, not by what they differ in but what they have most in common, which is their commitment to their loyal customers, employees and undeniable quality in their products they sell. Through their loyalty to their customers and employees in addition to their irreplaceable value

For my individual assignment, I chose the company Whole Foods Market (WFM) which deals in selling products that are organic and fresh to its customers. WFM was founded by John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery in Austin, Texas where the original store opened in 1980 and consisted of a staff of only 19 people. WFM was founded because those four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format and at that time there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info/whole-foods-market-history). For the rest of this paper, I will be going more in depth about the company’s history and background, why I chose this company, the organization’s environment, mission, culture, and if the company will change or needs to change.

Whole Foods has been adaptive in fitting its competitive strategy to its situation. The store first grew to prominence by being a stylish antithesis to the crunchy mom-and-pop organic grocery stores, providing a relatively normal but

The company’s mixture of collective knowledge and core capabilities in the natural food industry has allowed Whole Foods the competency to not only establish a solid brand recognition in this market, but has afforded them the opportunity to remain competitive in the grocery industry. Their effective organizational development, integrated with the team of five senior executives, who function as a CEO team, collaboratively make decisions in all facets of the company’s strategic initiatives.

Whole Foods has incorporated the strategy to become the top food retailer that sells the healthiest foods that are both natural and organic. The company’s strategy classified as differentiation strategy, where they attract specific market consumers and supplying the store with products that satisfy customers’ preferences and tastes. To make this possible, Whole Foods uses numerous elements for their strategy so that they can accomplish everything from the products they sell, expanding store locations, prices, marketing, and growth.

The article for discussion this week validates the necessity for a business to have a competitive advantage over others so as to sustain profitability in a highly competitive market. Before Amazon provided a life line, Whole Foods dominated the market of natural and organic foods for many years. The grocery giant which started off as a little “mom-and-pop’s” store in 1978 successfully lived up to its mission of supplying the most healthy and highest quality foods and was grossing in an annual revenue of about $8 billion by the year 2007. was One of the things that made Whole Foods very profitable was definitely its brand. Though Whole Food was not the only grocery store selling organic foods, it distinguished itself by highly investing in store quality and various

This is a needs assessment performed on the WholeFoods Company. I consulted with the district human resources manager, who put me into contact with their training and development specialist. I also read the company online literature, especially that regarding the mission and values of the organization. This is integral to the organizational analysis section of the needs assessment, as suggested in Chapter 3. On the website, the WholeFoods company claims as one of their core values to "support team member excellence and happiness" with several elements. Those elements include "empowering work environments, self responsibility, self-directed teams, open and timely information, incremental progress, and shared fate." In addition to the research on the company website, I interviewed the training and development specialist as part of the needs assessment, organizational analysis section. The specialist told me that training and development were a core concern for the company because it helps them to motivate and manage employees. Most training happens in the store, and there is department-specific training.

Whole Foods as a company in general does not compete on low prices. It prices the products based on the value its customers have for the products. Whole Foods as a company was established in 1984. Given the fact that firm’s profit is high enough for it to stay in business, an objective now is to increase sales revenue which will in turn lead to increases in market share and profit. Currently Whole Foods is trying to expand its market share in Europe (London) and Canada. Another important objective of the company is social responsibility. Whole Foods recognizes its obligation to customers and society in general, so it sells organic and environmentally friendly products accompanied with high quality services. In terms of types of competitive market, Whole Foods can be described as monopolistic competition. There is some extent of price competition and much extent of advertising with the purpose to differentiate company’s products from other big and small retailers. Company’s overall pricing strategy can be described as above-market pricing. The store deliberately set premium prices for its products, especially when it comes to organically grown fruits and vegetables,

Whole Foods Market has developed into the world’s largest retail chain of organic foods supermarkets. Their fast growth success is mainly due to being high selective core values. The company employs more than 32000 workers and also with an average size of store of approximately 3000 square metres.

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.