Whole Foods : It 's Incredible Rise Over The Past 34 Years

Capabilities of a firm are created through tangible and intangible resources and allow them to perform everyday tasks. These capabilities become core competencies when they develop into a

Whole Foods Market has prided itself in the selection of the products it sells and uses by quality, taste, value, and production processes strengthening their business further. They have carried out this key strategy by tasting every product before they purchased them, sourcing from local, organic farmers, requiring livestock and seafood items from farmers to be raised humanely and raised on pasturelands, well water, wholesome grains, and not use steroids, hormones or byproducts. Keeping products at high quality, great taste, comparable prices, and environmentally friendly will allow repeat customers and word-of-mouth advertising to increase the value of Whole Foods Market. (Thompson, 2012)

Whole Foods Market, Inc. which is headquartered in Austin, Texas, is an American foods supermarket chain it was founded by John Mackey who currently serves as the CEO of Whole Foods. To sum up their mission and vision statement, Whole foods as a company strives to help out in promoting positive health and well-being of people, this includes team-members, customers and the whole planet in general. Some of their core values include:

The main competitors in the industry are all small to medium and large sized purveyors of organic foods. The major threat comes from Whole Foods Market. This firm is best positioned to compete and control a sizable market share due to its growth strategy. Much of Whole Foods Market inventory is a result of mergers and acquisitions of small, independent retailers of organic foods and specialty products (Whole Foods Market History, n.d.). Our competitors that we must pay the closest attention are Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s. Although Whole Foods Market has a merger and acquisitions growth strategy; Trader Joe’s surpasses Whole Foods Market in sales—$1,734 versus $934 per square foot respectively; due to higher product costs and failure

When people shop at their local grocery stores they expect to get what the label says they are getting. If the label says three pounds of meat then they expect to get three pounds of meat, not two and half, but three. Unfortunately it was found out that the customer is not always getting what they pay for.

Whole Foods Market believes that the operation of a company should exceed beyond profits and focus on creating values and relationships within their communities. Whole Foods Market is “currently the 8th largest public food and drug retailer in the U.S., ranking #232 on the Fortune 500” (Whole Foods Market Annual Report, 2013). Food retailing has gained more competiveness over the years. Whole Foods Market, has been awarded, “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store.” Whole Foods Market’s “seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture” (Whole Foods Market Company Info, 2014). They believe that providing customers with natural and organic products, they are giving customers the most nutritious food and the best tasty food as well. “The quality of their foods is measured by nutrition, freshness, appearance, and taste” (Whole Foods Market Company Info, 2014).

1. Whole Foods philosophy states a value in education and an informed society. They market themselves to a buyer with a slightly higher income and education level because they feel that these people are more conscious of their overall health. The demographics of an area guide’s Whole Foods in the selection process of each location. They seek out highly dense, urban areas that have high foot traffic, where at least 40% of the residents have a college degree. 2. Overall demand for natural and organic products has increased and with that rise in demand, came a rise in competition. As a result of the competition, Whole foods became the first “Certified Organic” grocer by a third party inspector. As many of their competitors continued to follow the guidelines of the USDA’s Organic Rule, Whole Foods was willing to take the extra step to become certified and have their products authenticated. Their hope is to deter consumers from buying the competitor’s products that are not certified and may not even be labeled “USDA Organic.”

Whole Foods strategy performed sound well from a strategic perspective. Whole Foods Market became a leader in the organic and natural retailer WFM’s strategy seems to have produced a successful outcomes. Whole Food Market has totally 379 stores with 15 000 square feet- 75000 squared feet in 2014 and become the largest and biggest retailer in the organic and natural segments. Whole Food Market picks target metropolitan areas with the growth of 10-23 stores per year since 1991. These stores often located in the high – traffic shopping locations on premier real estate site.

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 supermarket industry is seeing a shift with more customers opting for “organic” and “fresh” foods over “processed” and “packaged” foods. The grocery stores are now focused on the health of the customers and the environment than pursuing mass-market sales volume and narrow margins. The grocer that is doing an exceptional job is the Whole Foods Market.

Stability – The Company has developed a five year plan and on that plan they projected growth from 2014 through 2016. Whole Foods Market has had store growth and development in urban centers as well as a continued presence in organic health foods industry is steadily growing. With the continual industry growth in larger food chain stores, the desired company growth projection may become skewed if consumers choose lower priced organic foods at larger stores like Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, and this would affect the overall stability of Whole Foods Market growth. Whole Foods Market uses a premium pricing strategy. Majority of their products have higher prices when compared to alternatives organic and natural products

Whole Foods Market is a grocery store that features and specializes in natural and organic foods and products. Whole Food Market has headquarters in Austin, Texas. John Mackey is the founder and he established the store in 1980. The store began in Texas and later expanded to California and other states on the East Coast of the USA. There are Whole Foods Markets across the United States and also in the United Kingdom. Recently, Whole Foods Market purchase another health food store chain, Wild Oats. The success and expansion of Whole Foods Market over the past 32 years must be in part due to marketing. This paper will examine aspects of Whole Foods Market and how those factors contribute to the store's progress.

Given that the organic foods industry is a rapidly flourishing one with a huge potential for profits, this would be an attractive industry to compete in. The high entry barriers, lack of substitute products and the huge pool of potential consumers will certainly mean an immense potential of opportunities in an industry that has just started to grow. Whole Foods Markets is in an excellent position to capture these opportunities and this will be explained below.

Fortune 500, 2012 ranks Whole Foods Market as the 264th best company in the United States, and Fortune 100, 2012 ranks Whole Foods as the 32nd best company to work for. Whole Foods Market is a global leader in the natural and organic foods. The company operates within the natural and organic segment, which include seafood, meat, poultry, bakery and grocery. The company also prepares specialty food such as wine, coffee, vitamins, nutritional supplement and body care. Whole Foods Market also produces educational products such as books, and other products such as pet products, floral, and household products. In September 2010, the company has 299 stores in the United States, Canada and the UK. The rapid growth of Whole Foods Market has been attributed to the selective products that the company offers and its dedication to the quality standard. The company was formed in 1980 and completed its public offering in 1992. The Whole Foods Market is dedicated to promote wellbeing of all people by supplying high quality and wholesome food. Whole Food's mission statement is to "promote vitality and well-being for all individuals by offering the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful natural and naturally preserved foods available."( Meador 2010, P 1). Whole Food strategy is to open large new stores measured 50,000 square feet or larger. The company also dedicates in acquiring small chain

The customers’ demands and attitudes toward healthier living and corresponding lifestyle changes are the driving force for Whole Foods Market to have the annual double digits compound growth rate in the industry. Consumers add more organic foods into the daily consumption as they are concerned more about salt, sugar, chemical additives, saturated fat, cholesterol, carbohydrates, and nutritional value that can bring Whole foods Market to develop more nutritious foods, and good-tasting products.