Founded in 1980 in Austin Texas, Whole Foods is a supermarket focused in health, natural and organic products all across the United States.
First consolidated as a small local store with 19 workers, presently Whole Foods has outlets in 36 states in the US and other countries such as Canada and Great Britain; many of which are located in metropolitan cities.
This was possible because the percentage of people following a healthier lifestyle is growing faster, and the clients of the company are willing to pay for a better quality, no matter the price, and also this is why the profits are higher. All the items “Whole Foods” are organic and there are several kinds of products like in any other supermarket, but this company is focused in making the difference offering organic products with the best quality for a high level market.
There are about 600 work teams in Whole Foods empowered to make decisions, motivated and identified with the Company´s mission and motto “Whole Foods, Whole people, whole planet”. This philosophy is a reflection of the firm's strategy, making the team members feel content, which reflects in the way they do their job.
However, there are threats, and one for Whole Foods is the competitors, such as big supermarket chains and smaller shops who have tried to copy their products but trying to keep cheaper prices.
As the company's main target is either people of high economic status or highly committed to environment and health care, Whole Foods has managed to overcome recessions in economy without suffering so much.
[...] Providing stores in small towns in the US with organic products so as to make people aware of what it is all about Descriptive alternatives analysis Whole Foods only spends about of its revenues on advertising, focusing its marketing campaign primarily in word-of-mouth recommendations and customer's experience. Even though this has been the company's long term policy, in order to keep up with the expected growth rate in the future, they may need to allocate at least of its revenues to the marketing campaign budget. [...]
[...] Analysis 4.0 PEST Analysis Opportunities Threats Political Labeling Government is standards by the willing to US Department of protect and agriculture in supervise this of the benefits it offers to people and environment. food could be growth number of sold in potential. competitors. traditional supermarkets. Higher prices Higher prices of can slow down Organic products. consumption. Organic food total US retail sale. Social Increase of New values which consumer's demand permit the annually. development of Increase of this sector. consumer's concerns about health and safety of food. [...]
[...] Once more and more people become conscious of the importance of natural food, it will be easier for Whole Foods to sell them their products Decision grid: We have decided that the appropriate decision criterion is: Time to implement Cost of implementation Market penetration Alignment with company's mission decision factor Time Cost Impact Alignment with mission Scale= Low, 10: High (The scores of Time and Cost have been reversed to reflect reality) 6.4 Recommendation Based on the above figures we believe that organizing a health consciousness campaign to inform people about the benefits of eating organic food and the disadvantages of regular food is the best alternative. [...]
[...] Technological N/A 5.0 Strategy in Whole Foods Market In order for any company to be successful, a strong strategy is necessary to guide the firm in a certain direction, and potentially gain a competitive advantage over rivalries in the long run. Whole Foods Market has a very strong strategy which can be summarized as “Being the best food retailer in every community in which Whole Foods stores were located”[1]. The outcome of a strategy should be to get a competitive advantage, which is defined as strategic development where customers will choose a firm's product or service over its competitors based on significantly more favorable perceptions or offerings”[2]. [...]
[...] It is believed that this is how Whole Foods Market originated, as there were no supermarket chain that offered such product/services. However, in the long run, there will be competitors, therefore the ‘Blue Ocean Strategy' suggest that change is necessary to be able to sustain the differentiation that a company has created. (Crafting & Executing Strategy, Thompson/Strickland/Gamble, pg. 180) Strategic Challenge for the company Although statistics show that the natural and organic food market is still growing rapidly, we are dealing with an industry that has already had its growth boom in the 1990s and now has to manage to keep up with the expectations it has created worldwide in order to gain a more important position in the food sector. [...]
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